


A New Cognition

by LikeAPegoryu



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Oblivious Ryuji, like very painfully oblivious Ryuji
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-03-15 06:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 52,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13607418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeAPegoryu/pseuds/LikeAPegoryu
Summary: Kevin Tanaka is a foreign exchange student heading for his first day of school at Shujin Academy when he suddenly gets pulled into Kamoshida's castle along with Akira and Ryuji.Basically the events of Persona 5, but with an original character mixed into the scenes.





	1. A New Beginning

First day of school. He’s not going to be late. Kevin Tanaka woke up an hour earlier than necessary to ensure he did not get to school late. After all, it’s his first day time going to school in Tokyo, he had to make sure he didn’t get lost on the way to school trying to navigate around the crowds of people. Good thing he left early, apparently the train schedules were all mixed up due to an accident that happened the previous day. 

When he got out of the subway, he realized it had started raining. Of all days to forget his umbrella, too! The kid decided to stay inside the subway and hope the rain die down a bit before he left.

After waiting for almost half an hour, he got up and headed towards class, not wanting to be late on his first day. On the way, he happened to pass by two students wearing the same uniform as him, one with curly black hair and the other with dyed blonde hair. He heard a bit of their conversation as he passed by them.

“He thinks of the school as his castle.”

After hearing that, all three boys put a hand to their heads. Kevin thought nothing of it and just continued walking to class. When he turned the last corner to Shujin Academy, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He was certain he was at the right street, yet standing in front of him was not a school, but a castle!

He walked closer to the entrance and saw the two students from earlier.

“U-um, excuse me. You two are from Shujin, correct? Is this Shujin Academy?” Kevin asked.

“This...should be the right place, but why is there a castle?” the blond teen responded.

“I take it schools in Japan usually aren’t shaped like castles?” Kevin asked, half-joking but half-serious considering the situation they were currently in that can only be described as the plot of some weird anime.

“No...at least not any schools I’ve been to.” the blond responded.

The three go inside and are soon approached by a person wearing a suit of armor.

“Who are you? Are you a student?” the blond kid asked.

One thing’s for sure, if the guy was a student, he certainly wasn’t a friendly student. And he also seems to have friends, because more of them appear and knock all three of them unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ It seems you have met with a terrible fate, haven’t you? With the way things are going, you may never be able to return home. Is that how you want things to end? Let’s make a deal. _

Kevin suddenly wakes up. He ended up in what appears to be a prison cell. What was that dream just now? And how long had he been out?

He gets up and sees the two other students that were with him, sleeping in the same bed, faces only inches apart. He blushes at the sight of them. Guess these cells weren’t meant to accommodate more than two prisoners. As uncomfortable as the beds may be, at least the guards didn’t throw the three of them on the ground instead.

The kid gets up and starts investigating the cell, hoping for a way to escape.

The beds they were sleeping on definitely were not meant for two people. After a few minutes, the blond kid turned in his sleep, prompting him to yell before falling face flat on the ground, alerting the boy searching the room as well as the curly-haired teen whom he was just sleeping with.

“Ow! What the hell, where are we?!”

“I-I think we’re in the dungeons. And by the look of things, I don’t think there’s a way out, either.” Kevin had just searched every nook and cranny of the room and found nothing. No secret passageway hidden under the beds or a hole in the wall they could crawl through.

“What?! So we’re stuck here? This ain’t funny!” the blond said, panicking at their situation.

“What’s with all the racket?” A mysterious voice rang out as footsteps approaching the cell could be heard.

When the figure appeared before them, the blonde-haired teen seemed surprised.

“Well, if it isn’t Sakamoto? And here I thought it was just a couple of thieves.”

“Kamoshida? Let us out of here, asshole!” the blond kid Sakamoto yelled while shaking the bars of the cell.

There was definitely something wrong with that Kamoshida guy. He’s a teacher, yet here he is wearing nothing but a cape and a pink speedo. Not only that, but he suddenly goes into the cell and told his guards to execute all of them. This has to be a joke, right?

Sakamoto definitely didn’t seem like he was taking things well. He charges towards one of the guards and knocks it over, telling the other two to escape, only to end up getting knocked down by another guard.

The two boys tried to push down the guards blocking their way, but they were too heavy.

“What are you two doing? Just run!”

Even when he’s in a hopeless situation like this, Sakamoto was still worrying about them more than himself. Kamoshida was not going easy on the guy, either. He started beating the defenseless Sakamoto while the other two guys could do nothing but watch helplessly.

When he was finally bored of beating up the poor kid, he ordered a guard to execute him while the other two guards pinned the other boys on either wall.

“I don’t wanna die…” said Sakamoto as he was staring death right in the face.

Kevin wanted to do something, anything to help, but he couldn’t move much with the soldier pinning him to the wall. He just watched, cursing the fact that he couldn’t do anything.

_ Please, someone do something! _

“Stop!” yelled the curly-haired teen who was pinned to the opposite wall.

It didn’t seem to phase the executioner, however, the guard holding up Kevin suddenly softened his grip and turned his head. Kevin realized it was his moment and slipped out of the guard’s hand and charged towards the one who was about to kill Sakamoto.

He made it just in time, as the sword was only mere inches away from Sakamoto’s face before the guard was knocked over.

“Are you okay?” Kevin asked.

“Y...yeah...Thanks…” Sakamoto replied while coughing as held his throat.

“Erg! You’re worthless! You, execute the other one first!” Kamoshida just ordered the guard pinning down the other boy to execute him! Kevin managed to save Sakamoto because he was right next to him, but Akira was on the opposite side of the room. He wouldn’t be able to make it in time.

As the guard was about to stick a sword in the boy, a sudden gust of wind appeared and stopped it. The other boy was just standing there with a mask on his face. He ripped it off, letting out a scream as blood covered his face. Blue fire appeared around the kid, transforming his clothes and then producing what appeared to be a demon right behind him. 

With his newfound power, the boy took down the guards as if they were nothing, allowing the three of them to make their escape. While leaving, they also met a strange cat-like creature who kept denying he was a cat.

The three of them escaped the castle, leaving behind the cat who said he wanted to investigate the place further. After running back out the alleyway they came from, the three returned to the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this here's my second attempt at writing this story. I'm hoping the pacing isn't too slow or too rushed, but I wanted to try and cut details from the game to try and make it more focused on differences in the events as they play out from the OC Kevin's perspective.  
> This story will hopefully focus on Kevin's interactions with the Phantom Thieves (including him playing matchmaker for the lovely couple), bonus scenes that rework some parts from the game, and Kevin's backstory as well.


	2. First Day of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin starts his first day of class and is greeted with a surprise.
> 
> Rumors about Ryuji reach Kevin's ears.
> 
> The boys have a talk on the roof.

The three boys are panting. They just barely escaped the castle with their lives and “returned to the real world” as some weird voice from the curly-haired teen’s phone said.

“What the hell was that?” Sakamoto yelled out, catching the attention of a few pedestrians passing by.

“I don’t know, but whatever it was made us very late for class. We should get going” Kevin responded, not wasting a beat as he started heading for class again.

“W-wait, you’re just going to go back there? Hey, wait up!” Sakamoto yelled.

The two boys followed Kevin as he made his way to school, only to see that everything was back to normal.

“What? What the hell’s going on!”

“That’s what I’d like to know.” Someone who appeared to be a counselor showed up.

“Lunch is almost over, where the hell have you all been?”

“Um...uh...a castle?” Sakamoto responded.

“So you have no intention of giving me an honest answer?”

It wasn’t a lie, but telling that to a teacher was definitely not a smart move. Trying to explain things normally definitely wouldn’t work, so Kevin tried to come up with the most believable lie he could to get them out of trouble.

“I’m very sorry, sir! It’s my fault we were late!” Kevin said as he bowed to the teacher.

The two boys and the counselor all looked surprised.

“What do you mean by that?” asked the counselor.

“Since it’s my first time in the area, I got lost and ended up in a bad part of town. A couple of thugs approached me trying to extort me for money. Thankfully, these two gentlemen here helped me escape. Unfortunately they were very persistent, so we had to escape into a building pretty far away. The interior was reminiscent of a castle.”

The counselor just sighed. “Fine, just, get to class, all of you. Oh, but you two are the transfer students, right? Drop by the faculty office first to see your homeroom teachers.” Seems like he bought the story.

“Whoa, thanks man! You totally saved us back there!” Sakamoto said, sounding very impressed with how Kevin came up with a lie so quickly.

“It was nothing. Now get to class, we’re still very late after all.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin and the curly-haired teen walked into the faculty office looking for their homeroom teachers.

“You must be the foreign exchange student. I hope you won’t be using time zones as your excuse for being this late to school” said his homeroom teacher Ms. Usami.

Kevin retold his lie to Ms. Usami, although she seemed a little less receptive of his lie than the counselor. Nearby, he could hear the other boy telling the same story to his teacher and getting nothing but a sigh in return.

Ms. Usami led Kevin to his classroom 2-C. Kevin waited outside, waiting for Ms. Usami’s cue to walk in and introduce himself.

“Alright class, please settle down. We have a new student joining our class today. Please come in and introduce yourself.”

Kevin walked in the classroom, watching as all the students just gossipped to each other in their seats. He notices a familiar face in the back of the room. Or rather, he notices a familiar hair color.

“Oh! It’s you!” Sakamoto yelled, everyone turning their heads to stare at him before gossipping even louder this time.

“What? The new transfer student knows Sakamoto?”

“Wow, hanging out with the delinquent on the first day? He must be the one in the rumors after all!”

“Everyone quiet down!” Ms. Usami yelled to the class. She looked over at Kevin again. “Please write your name on the board and introduce yourself.”

Kevin wrote his name on the board in plain English with Katakana underneath. “My name’s Kevin Tanaka, or I guess that’s Tanaka Kevin if we go by surname first. My parents both hail from Japan while I was born in America. I’m here for the next year to study abroad. Nice to meet you all!”

“Thank you, Kevin-san. Now then, take your s-” Ms. Usami said before getting interrupted.

“Excuse me! I have a question for the transfer student!” a boy said raising his hand in the air.

“Yes, what is it?” Kevin asked.

“Is it true that you have a criminal record?” the boy asked.

Kevin was taken aback. A criminal record? Where did that come from?

“N-no, that’s not true. I don’t think the country would even let a guy with a criminal record in.”

Everyone immediately returned to gossipping again.

“Everyone, quiet down! Ito-san, please see me after class. Kevin-san, you can take the seat in the back next to Sakamoto.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kevin responded. He walked towards the back of the class and sat down in his seat.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me you were in my class!” Sakamoto asked in a loud whisper.

Kevin put his finger up to his lips. “Sh! We can talk after class. Also it’s not like I knew what class you were in until just now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Class finally ended, although for Kevin and Sakamoto it only lasted for two hours. As Kevin started packing up his stuff, he heard a voice calling out to him.

“Hey, meet me on the rooftop after school. We need to talk” said Sakamoto.

Kevin knew it had to be about the castle. Either that, or it was love at first sight for the blond delinquent. “Alright.”

Sakamoto walked out, walking past the stairs and heading for the other classroom.

Kevin continued packing his belongings until he was approached by two female students.

“Umm...Tanaka-san?” one of the girls meekly said.

“Yes?”

“Do...do you know Sakamoto-kun?” the girl asked.

“Yeah, I met him on the way to school. Why?” Kevin asked looking confused.

“Well…” the girl started.

“You should stay away from Sakamoto. The guy is bad news” replied the other girl standing next to her.

Bad news? What was this about? “What do you mean ‘bad news’?”

“Since you’re new, you probably haven’t heard. Apparently he tried to assault a teacher last year. The teacher was sent to the hospital and had to quit as a result.”

Kevin was surprised to hear this. That Sakamoto kid assaulting a teacher? The kid definitely didn’t seem like that kind of guy back at the castle. “And are you saying this as someone who witnessed this first-hand, or are you just repeating some baseless rumors floating around.”

The girl seemed a bit offended. “Wh-why does that matter? Someone saw him assault the teacher! Just ask anyone!”

“And I could say that I saw you getting intimate with one of the teachers. Does that make it true?”

“What was that?!” The girl was fuming mad. “I am not some slut like Takamaki!”

Her friend tried to calm her down and just walked away. Seems like he didn’t exactly make a good first impression, although he wasn’t going to just let some baseless rumors affect his perception of people. Seems like that Takamaki person is in a similar position as Sakamoto. Poor kids, what did they do to deserve this?

Kevin finished packing the rest of his stuff and started heading for the stairs. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Sakamoto leaning against the wall next to it. How long has he been standing there?

“Yo, you really kept me waiting.”

“Sorry, I had to make sure everything all my pencils were facing the same direction and alphabetize my textbooks” Kevin responded with a snarky attitude.

“For real? That’s probably the lamest thing I’ve heard!” Sakamoto said chuckling a bit. “Come on, let’s get to the roof already. I called over the other transfer student as well.”

Sakamoto got up from the wall he was leaning against.

“...And thanks” Sakamoto said, sounding very sentimental.

Seems like he was listening in after all. “For what?”

“For sticking up for me back there. Most people just ignore me as soon as they hear the rumors. Haven’t really had any friends since last year because of it.” The Sakamoto kid looked sad as he said that. He must have gone through a lot because of those rumors.

“Oh, you mean that? I just found those rumors hard to believe. After all, we’re talking about the same Sakamoto who almost wet himself back at the castle” Kevin said, a smile on his face as he teased the blond delinquent.

“W-what did you say?!” Sakamoto yelled as he started chasing after Kevin towards the roof, both laughing to themselves as they headed upstairs.

A few minutes after arriving on the roof, the curly-haired teen from earlier also appeared. The three of them introduced themselves: the curly-haired teen Akira Kurusu, the blond delinquent Ryuji Sakamoto, and the foreign exchange student.

“So, I heard you got a criminal record.” Ryuji certainly did not hold anything back. A criminal record? Akira? He certainly doesn’t look like someone who would assault someone. But then again, Kamoshida didn’t quite look like the kind of person who would execute three students until he saw him at the castle.

“But man, what was that? Was it real, or was it all just a dream?” Ryuji questioned, recalling the events from today. Can’t really blame the guy. After all, a castle suddenly appearing where the school should be is not something that anyone would readily believe.

“If it was a dream, it was certainly a very realistic one. I can still feel some pain from when that soldier knocked me out” Kevin stated.

“Well, whether it was a dream or not, thanks for saving me. Both of you” Ryuji said, both Akira and Kevin looking a bit surprised.

“If it wasn’t for you guys, I might not even be here anymore. So thanks for that.” Ryuji had a sad smile on his face as if he were questioning his own mortality.

“Anyways, that’s all I wanted to say. I’ll talk to you guys more during school, so don’t ignore me. I have a feeling we’ll be getting along just fine as troublemakers. Oh, and I guess the goody-two-shoes over there as well.”

“Oh, so I guess I’m just an afterthought then?” Kevin asked with an angry smile.

Ryuji just laughed as he started walking away. With that the three of them dispersed, heading back to their respective homes.


	3. Untouchable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji and Kevin go on an _Untouchable_ date.
> 
> Kevin drops some gun knowledge on Ryuji while he just thinks about food.
> 
> Ryui and his mom have a chat during dinner.

While walking from the station, Ryuji had a slightly annoyed look on his face. Something was clearly bothering him. As Ryuji got closer and closer to his home, it only got worse and worse. As soon as he stood in front of his door, he turned around and started yelling.

“Okay, why the hell are you following me?!”

Kevin just looked at him confused. “I’m not following you.”

“Bullshit! You got on the same train as me, walked the same exact path as me, got on the same elevator as me, and now you’re standing right in front of my door! How is that not following me?!”

“Umm...well, the thing is…” Kevin started.

“What? What is it?!”

“I live here” Kevin stated matter-of-factly.

Ryuji just stared at him, stunned. “What? For real? N-no way, I know everyone on this floor and I’ve never seen you before! Nor have I seen any moving trucks or nothing!”

“That’s because I moved in last week and basically stayed in my room the entire time. I’ve managed to avoid meeting anyone on this floor. Also all my stuff came via cardboard boxes in the mail, so I didn’t need a moving company.” Kevin reached for his pocket and fished out his room key with the number 407 marked on it.

Ryuji watched as Kevin proceeded to walk by him and unlocked the door right next to his.

“Believe me now?”

“O-oh, sorry dude. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that” Ryuji said, looking a bit sad and embarrassed.

“It’s fine, I can’t say I wouldn’t be mad if someone just followed me to my house like that.” Kevin started walking into his room when Ryuji suddenly yelled out “Wait!” Kevin looked back at Ryuji.

“You just moved here from America, right? I was just about to go check out a store in town. Would you like to come with? I could show you around the city after” Ryuji asked with a bright smile on his face.

“Sure, I haven’t gone out much in the past few days. It would make for a nice change of pace. Alright, it’s a date, then” Kevin responded.

“W-what? D-d-date?! Wait, who said anything about a da-” Ryuji started saying before Kevin closed the door on him. It was fun teasing the poor boy, he would always overreact to everything. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin took off his school uniform and put on some casual clothes. One thing he certainly missed about America was the lenient dress code. Although Ryuji didn’t even wear a proper uniform. Maybe he could be a rebel and wear something more comfortable as well? Nah, that would probably give the teachers a bad impression of him.

After getting dressed, he walked out and saw Ryuji standing outside wearing a purple jacket that really suited him.

“Took you long enough. And just so we’re clear, this is  _ not _ a date, okay?!” Ryuji yelled with a slight blush on his face.

“Don’t worry, it was just a joke” Kevin responded with a light chuckle.

The two of them headed into town. Along the way, Ryuji showed him where some of the stores were located so that he knows where to buy groceries, medicine, and anything else he might need.

Eventually, they took a turn into a dark alley. Did he have some sort of attachment to dark alleys or something? He even goes to school through a dark alley instead of the normal route everyone else takes.

Taking a turn at the end of the alley, he stops in front of a store.

“Here it is! This is the store I was talking about earlier.” Ryuji said with a smile beaming on his face. “The name’s in English so I don’t really know what it means, but it sounds cool, doesn’t it?”

“Untouchable. It describes something that can’t be touched.”

“Whoa, you can read it?! Oh wait, I guess you’re from America and all, huh? Would be strange if you couldn’t” Ryuji said. Kevin was almost appalled at how much of an idiot Ryuji could be, but his heart seemed to be in the right place at least.

The two of them go inside, not even greeted by the surly manager sitting behind the counter. Kevin looks around and notices all the guns everywhere. Were they in a gun store?!

“H-hey, Ryuji. I don’t think this is such a good idea…” Kevin whispered to Ryuji.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, we’ll probably need something like this if we go back to that castle” Ryuji responded.

The castle? He was planning on going back? Kevin couldn’t say he wasn’t interested in the castle, but to buy a gun? Aren’t Japan’s gun laws supposed to be super strict?

“Hey, would you mind giving some recommendations?” Ryuji asked.

“Just buy whatever looks interesting” the manager responded.

The guy didn’t seem too enthusiastic to help him, but he didn’t kick them out or ask to see their licenses either. What kind of shady underground store did Ryuji bring him to?

Ryuji sighs and points to a rifle on the wall.

“Hey Kevin, what do you think about this one?” Ryuji asked.

Kevin sighs and walks over to the rifle Ryuji was pointing at. He notices something off about the gun though.

“Oh, are these model guns?” Kevin asked.

“Uh, yeah. Wait, you didn’t think I brought you to a  _ real _ gun shop, did you?”

Kevin gave out a nervous laugh. Guess Ryuji wasn’t dumb enough to go strolling into some shady underground store after all.

“Still, the attention to detail on these models are incredible. A Mossberg 464, huh? It’s almost indiscernible from the real thing” Kevin casually blurted out. The shopkeeper seemed a bit intrigued.

“Moss...Mossburger? Dude, it’s a gun, not a burger” Ryuji said with a confused look on his face. He looked around and then pointed at another gun.

“Not Mossburger! Mossberg 464! That’s the model of the gun!”

“They named a gun after some sort of weird burger? Man, some people. What about that one, then?” Ryuji asked as he pointed to another gun.

“That’s a Sako 75.”

“Sake? Did someone name that while they were drunk or something?” Ryuji retorted.

“How about that one?” Ryuji asked again, pointing at a different gun.

“Maverick 88.”

“Ma-Mapo tofu?” 

“Oi, oi, that’s a bit of a stretch. Are you sure you’re not just hungry or something?” Kevin retorted.

“Well it is almost dinner time. I could really go for a burger right now. Oh, or a beef bowl! Anything with meat, really” Ryuji said, almost drooling at the thought of food.

Kevin just sighed. “Look, if you really want to bring a toy gun with you, at least get something that you can hide so you don’t attract a lot of attention on the streets.”

He looked around at the display cases and pointed at one of the handguns. 

“Like this one. Looks like something straight out of a movie, huh?”

Ryuji looked over and his eyes brightened up.

“Oh, you’re right! It does look like something from a movie! What’s this one called?”

“Norinco 54. Also known as a Tkachev. It’s the model that you usually see mafia members in movies use.”

“Really? That sounds so cool! Hey, could I get the Nori-combo 54?” Ryuji asked the manager with a huge smile on his face.

The manager took out the gun from the display and sold the gun to Ryuji.

“You’re pretty knowledgeable for a kid your age. Even most of my regulars wouldn’t be able to name off all those guns off the top of their head like that. Plus you came in here thinking this was a real gun shop yet managed to figure out they were all model guns on your own, right? I don’t think any of my regulars are capable of that.”

The manager’s inquiry seemed to catch Kevin off-guard.

“A-ah, yeah. My dad’s actually a huge gun enthusiast. He likes to show off his guns to people, and he’s taken me to some gun rallies so I kinda picked up some stuff about guns from him” Kevin responded.

“For real?! That’s so cool! You gotta show me your dad’s guns some time.” Ryuji seemed a bit too excited about guns.

“Sorry, but they’re all back at America. You’ll have to travel there yourself to see” Kevin responded.

“I see. You gotta show me some pictures when you go back then.”

The manager gave Ryuji the gun he bought, so the two headed back home. Ryuji looked like a kid at a candy store as he was walking back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin threw himself on his bed. It had been a long day today. He ended up at a castle, was almost killed, and even went to a gun store! Granted it was a model gun store and not a real gun store, but still a gun store nonetheless! But he was glad. He made two new friends, and it had only been the first day of school. He wondered what the rest of the year had in store for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The front door suddenly opens. A woman walks through and calls out, “Ryu-kun, I’m home!”

“Mom! You’re home early!” Ryuji said, happy to see his mom for once.

“Yeah, we were having a slow day today so the manager let us leave early. Have you eaten dinner yet?” Ryuji’s mom asked.

“Not yet. I was actually just going to go out to eat” Ryuji replied.

“Is that so? Then let me make something. We haven’t had dinner together in a long time.”

Ryuji was ecstatic. He barely gets to see his mom anymore because she’s so busy with work, so any time she gets off work is time he tries to spend with her.

Ryuji’s mom goes to her room to change into something more comfortable before making dinner. When she’s done, the two of them sit together at the dinner table to eat.

“You seem happy today, Ryu-kun. Did something good happen at school today?” Ryuji’s mom asked.

“Yeah, a lot of stuff happened! I was walking to school, and ended up at a ca-” Ryuji stopped himself as he realized he shouldn’t talk about the castle. “I mean...I saw this kid who was being picked on by some thugs, so me and this other guy tried to help him. We ended up just running away until we had to hide in some building that looked like a castle.”

“Oh my, my Ryu-kun is so brave!” Ryuji’s mom said, proud of her son’s actions.

Ryuji felt a bit guilty about lying to his mom like that, but he couldn’t tell her about the castle. He especially couldn’t tell her that he was almost killed by Kamoshida inside of there!

“It was nothing. Oh, but get this! The kid I helped was actually a new student! And he ended up in my class! Apparently he came from America to study. Said his name’s Kevin. Also, get this. He even moved into the room right next to us!” Ryuji said, his voice filled with excitement.

“Really? That’s quite the coincidence! The world really is a small place” said Ryuji’s mom.

“Yeah, I know, right? Oh, and there was also that other kid who was with us, Akira. Looks like a lot of bad rumors spread about him, so he’s pretty much alone as well. It felt like we had a lot in common, so we became friends as well.”

“Oh my, that’s wonderful! My Ryu-kun finally has friends in school!” Ryuji’s mom beamed a large smile on her face. “I’m so happy you’re finally not alone. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more after…”

Ryuji’s mom suddenly stopped talking. A heavy silence filled the air as they both recalled the day Kamoshida broke Ryuji’s leg.

“Anyways, I have tomorrow morning off as well, so I can make breakfast for you in the morning before you leave” said Ryuji’s mom.

“For real?! Thanks mom, you’re the best!”

Ryuji and his mom sat there eating the rest of their dinner before they went to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I know nothing about guns. Everything gun-related in this chapter came from google. I do, however, know a little bit about Japanese pronounciations.
> 
> Mapo Tofu in Japanese is pronounced "Mabo Tofu". There is no "v" sound in Japanese so I just assumed that "maverick" would sound something like "mabuuriku" which is the closest food pun I could think of.
> 
> Nori is Japanese for "Seaweed", so Nori-Combo is a seaweed combo.


	4. Awaken, Persona!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji's a genius.
> 
> Morgana's a cat.
> 
> Kamoshida's an asshole.
> 
> One of these is a lie.

Kevin walks out of his door wearing his Shujin uniform, school bag hanging on his arm. As he starts heading for school, he sees Ryuji’s door open as well with both him and a person who appears to be his mother coming out.

“Ah, Kevin! Good morning, man!” said Ryuji.

“Ah, you must be Kevin-kun! I heard so much about you from Ryu-kun last night!” Ryuji’s mom said, smiling at the kid.

“M-mom! Don’t tell him that!” Ryuji quickly said looking embarrassed.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Sakamoto. I’m Kevin Tanaka. I’m studying abroad from America.”

“My, what a well-mannered boy. My Ryu-kun could learn a thing or two from you.”

“Mom!” Ryuji said, his face turning slightly red.

“Hey, Kevin-kun. If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind making sure Ryu-kun gets to school on time? I normally leave for work at 6 so I can’t always be there to wake him up and see him off” said Ryuji’s mom.

Kevin was taken aback. His mom leaves for work at 6? He could just barely hear the sound of Ryuji’s mom returning home late last night. How many hours does this woman have to work?

“I see. In that case, I’ll be happy to help” Kevin responded.

“Thank you very much, Kevin-kun! I actually keep a spare key under the rock of this potted plant. Feel free to use it if Ryu-kun doesn’t wake up” Ryuji’s mom told Kevin.

“Are you sure it’s fine for me to know? I mean we only just met today and all” Kevin was surprised that Ryuji’s mom trusted him enough to know where the spare key is even though they had just met.

“Of course! You seem like a good kid. I’ll feel more at ease if Ryu-kun has a friend like you around” Ryuji’s mom replied.

“M-mom! We really need to go, we’re going to be late!” Ryuji quickly said, his face completely red with embarrassment now.

“Oh, you’re right. Sorry for keeping you two here for so long. Have a nice day at school, you two!” Ryuji’s mom said as she waved them goodbye.

Ryuji and Kevin started heading towards the station.

“Your mom’s really nice. Although she seems a bit too trusting of me” Kevin said.

“Yeah, she’s the best mom I could ever ask for. She probably trusts you because she wants you to keep me in check. After all, I’m just one big disappointment to her. What better way than to have a good kid like you watch over me” Ryuji responded with a sad look in his eyes.

He seems to be too hard on himself. His mom’s way too nice to see him as a disappointment, wonder what could have happened that made him think so?

The two get on the subway, and boy was it packed. Surprisingly enough, once the passengers are done getting off, an empty seat opens up.

“Hey look, there’s an empty seat. Why don’t you sit down?” said Ryuji.

Kevin looks a bit surprised to hear that from Ryuji. “No thanks, I’m fine. You should take it instead. Your leg could probably use the rest.”

Ryuji stares wide-eyed at Kevin. “Wha-what do you mean? My leg’s perfectly fine! Nothing wrong with it!”

“You don’t need to hide it, I can tell by the way you’re walking. Over-exerting yourself is only going to make it worse after all.”

“I said it’s fine!” Ryuji yells, causing everyone around to look at him. “S-sorry.”

Ryuji really confused Kevin. Why was he so bent on denying his leg was hurt? Something must have happened in the past. Something Ryuji really does not want to talk about.

“How about this then. I’ll take the seat and you can sit on top of me. That way we both get to sit down” Kevin said with a mischievous smile on his face.

“W-what the hell?! No way! I am not sitting on another guy’s lap!” Ryuji said, his face flush with embarrassment again.

In the end, an old man got on the subway before they departed, so they end up giving the seat to the old man instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second period started. They were having social studies with Mr. Ushimaru. The old guy definitely came off as the strict kind of teacher nobody except for the teacher’s pet liked.

“Now then, the Greek philospher Plato divided the human soul into three parts. Tanaka, since you skipped out on class yesterday, tell me: what is one of these three parts?” Mr. Ushimaru asked.

“Appetite” Kevin responded.

“Very good! I’m surprised you managed to get that” Mr. Ushimaru stated.

“Whoa, is the new kid smart?”

“He probably just got lucky. After all, there were three answers, anyone could’ve guessed one correct.”

“Sakamoto, your turn. Name another part of the human soul” Mr. Ushimura asked.

“Uh, uhhh…” Ryuji was completely blanking out.

Kevin could tell that Ryuji wasn’t going to just magically pull the answer out of nowhere, so he quickly wrote something on the corner of his page and tapped his desk just loud enough for Ryuji to hear while hoping Mr. Ushimura wouldn’t take notice.

“Well?” Mr. Ushimura pestered Ryuji.

“S-spirit?” Ryuji said.

Mr. Ushimura looked surprised. “Tha-that’s correct. A second part of the soul is spirit.”

“What? Even Sakamoto got one right? Was that question too easy?”

“But I didn’t even know the answer. Are you saying I’m an even bigger idiot than that Sakamoto?”

“Hey, he’s been hanging out with that new kid, right? Maybe that guy’s actually good at studying.”

“Maybe I should ask him for help.”

“Thanks man, you really saved me there” Ryuji whispered to Kevin.

“Kimura, since you seem to be paying _very_ close attention to the lecture, tell me what the third part and last part of the human soul is” Mr. Ushimura said.

“Uhhh...Is it love?” responded the poor unsuspecting sap.

“That is wrong. The last part is logic. Maybe if you stopped spending so much time gossipping with students during class you would’ve gotten that one right” Mr. Ushimura said, not giving the kid a break.

The whole class started laughing at the kid, minus Ryuji and Kevin of course. And one other girl in the class with a ponytail who just did nothing but stare down at her desk. Seems like they were the only decent people in the class unlike the rest of these judgemental assholes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After school, Ryuji and Kevin went to the front gate to wait for Akira. After a few minutes, the black haired teen finally showed up.

“Yo, you kept me waiting” Ryuji said to him.

“Are you here to ambush me?” Akira said, feigning fear on his face.

“Yeah, that’s right. Now hand over your wallet and we’ll let you go home in one piece” Kevin said to him with a smile on his face.

“D-dude, that’s one sick sense of humor you guys have. Anyway, let’s just talk about that castle from yesterday” Ryuji said, trying to get back on topic.

Akira and Kevin listened as Ryuji said how he tried to make himself think it was all a dream, but ultimately couldn’t do it. They went along with him as they tried to recreate yesterday’s events to get back into the palace.

After two failed attempts, Ryuji brings the guys back in front of the station again.

“Hmm...Something doesn’t feel right. Oh, I know! Kevin, you went the normal route instead of the back alley. You go first, and then Akira and I will go through the back alley.” Ryuji stated, finger pointed at Kevin.

The whole idea seemed dumb, but Akira and Kevin decided to go along with what Ryuji said just to entertain him.

Ryuji and Akira walked through the alleyway and popped up at the entrance where Kevin was waiting.

“Dammit! And I thought I had it that time…” Ryuji said, disappointment showing on his face.

Ryuji seemed to be straining himself as he tried to come up with another theory.

“Oh wait! Didn’t you have some sort of navigation app on your phone?” Ryuji asked Akira.

“Navigation app?” Akira asked.

“Yeah, you know! It said something like ‘return to the real world’. Maybe that’s it!” Ryuji said, looking proud of himself.

Akira proceeded to take out his phone and Ryuji snatches it out of his hand.

“What’s this weird eyeball looking thing?” Ryuji asks.

“Looks cute, doesn’t it?” Akira responds.

“Uhh...I don’t think I’d call it that. Let’s see...Ah ha! I can see your search history on here! Kamoshida, pervert, school, castle. Oh man, I’m such a genius!” Ryuji puffed out his chest looking even more proud of himself than before.

Akira and Kevin just looked at each other, giving a nervous smile. They didn’t have the heart to tell him that they both had figured it out since the beginning and just played along for his sake.

After activating the app, the three of them suddenly appear in front of Kamoshida’s palace again. Going inside, they meet up with the (totally not a cat) creature Morgana.

Together, the four of them explore the castle with Morgana teaching them about the basics of phantom thievery. They take a short break at a special room called the Safe Room.

Ryuji suddenly chimes in after Morgana’s explanation. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I’m not gonna force this all on you, so I thought I’d help out.”

Ryuji proceeds to take out the model gun they bought the previous day.

“Tada! It’s a Nori-Combo 54! It’s just a model though, so it only makes sounds. Pretty cool, huh? I had Kevin pick it out” Ryuji said with a smile plastered on his face.

“Nori...combo?” Akira asked, confused as to what’s happening.

He looked at Kevin who just gave an expression that said “Don’t ask”.

They continued on with their investigation of the castle. Or in Morgana’s phantom thievery words, “palace”. Along they way, they learned some surprising information, like how realistic model guns can shoot real bullets because they look real to the person. Kevin wondered if that meant these guns wouldn’t work in his own palace. Although Morgana’s slingshot did just as much damage as the gun Ryuji bought, so maybe they’d still work anyways.

They eventually reached a room called “Kamoshida’s Training Hall of Love”. In there, they witnessed a horrific scene. It was members of the school’s volleyball team, except they were being physically abused! What the hell is Kamoshida doing in this place?

“Quick, we need to let them out!” Ryuji yelled, clearly pissed about the whole situation.

“Wait, Ryuji. Something’s been bothering me” said Kevin.

“What is it?”

“If these guys are really students of Shujin, then why haven’t we heard any rumors about students going missing? The people in class already gossipped about Akira on the first day, how could they not gossip about so many students going missing?” Kevin said, confusing Ryuji greatly.

“I’m glad at least one of you has some brains! These are cognitive beings inside Kamoshida’s cognition. They’re not real!” Morgana replied, looking very annoyed that he was dragged all the way here.

“What? For real?” Ryuji asks.

“Yes. They’re about as human as I am a cat” Morgana responded.

“So they are human! We gotta let them out then!” Ryuji yelled, trying to shake the iron bars.

“I just said they’re not- Wait, are you calling me a cat?!” Morgana yells, offended for some reason that he’s being called a cat even though he’s less than 3 feet tall, has cat ears, and more importantly, has a tail that he can freely move.

After Ryuji finished memorizing all the volleyball members’ faces, the four of them make their escape. Unfortunately, that gets cut short once they meet Kamoshida’s shadow at the entrance. Not wanting them to get hurt, Morgana and Akira push Ryuji and Kevin aside since they don’t have their Personas yet. Unfortunately for them, a kid and a talking cat aren’t enough to fight against three Unic- three _Bicorns_.

Ryuji and Kevin just watch as their friends are pinned to the ground. Ryuji drops down to his knees, cursing himself for being so weak. Kevin just stands there like he’s ready to leap at Kamoshida’s throat at a moment’s notice.

“Too bad, but it looks like you’ve lost again, Sakamoto. Just like how you lost the track team after you betrayed everyone’s trust” Kamoshida’s shadow said as he tried to taunt Ryuji.

“Don’t listen to him, Ryuji! We haven’t lost just yet!” Kevin yells at Ryuji.

“No, he’s right. I screwed everything up. I dragged you guys into this mess, and for what? We didn’t even save anyone! And now we’re all going to die because of me!” Ryuji got on his hands, punching the ground as he said that.

“It’s just like that old track coach of yours. That fool defended you until the last moment. If he hadn’t opposed me, I would’ve just let him get away with just breaking his star’s leg” Kamoshida said as he continued to taunt Ryuji.

Upon hearing this, Kevin suddenly stood up straight, hands clenched to his sides. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. That idiot just defended this loser until the very end, even though he became useless after I broke his leg. How about I just break your other leg as well? You’ll still be just as worthless without it.” Kamoshida’s shadow laughed maniacally after he said that.

Kevin just stood there completely silent while Ryuji looked like he was at the pits of despair.

“Pathetic…” Kevin said.

Upon hearing this, Ryuji’s breath suddenly hitched.

“See? Even your friend here thinks you’re worthless” Kamoshida’s shadow said.

Really? Kevin thinks he’s worthless? Well, it’s true after all. He’s been nothing but a burden. He got the track team disbanded, he made his mom suffer from all the medical bills, and now his friends were about to die because of him.

“I’m not talking about Ryuji, asshole! I’m talking about you!” Kevin yelled at Kamoshida’s shadow.

Kamoshida’s shadow seemed pissed. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me! You’re pathetic, Kamoshida! Deep down you know you’re worthless. That’s why you do nothing but step on everyone else just to make yourself look good! You’re nothing like Ryuji! He’s kind, and he’s strong. He’s kind of an idiot, but he’d never stoop so low as to use people the same way you do!” Kevin started gasping for breath as he finished saying all that. It felt good letting all that out, although he felt a bit embarrassed after saying that.

Ryuji just stares, wide-eyed. “Kevin…”

“You heard him, Ryuji! Don’t give up!” Morgana yelled to him.

“Morgana…”

“Stand up for yourself! Don’t let this bastard win!” Akira yelled.

“Akira… You guys are right! I won’t let that bastard win anymore!” Ryuji said as he stood up, his face filled with conviction. “You may have taken away everything away from me in the past, but not anymore! I won’t let you do as you please anymore!”

Ryuji looked over to his left in Kevin’s direction as Kevin looked back. Ryuji lifted up his left arm while Kevin lifted his right, and both of them pointed at Kamoshida.

“We’re going to take you down!” They said in unison.

Suddenly, both Ryuji and Kevin put their hands to their heads.

_You really know how to keep a man waiting. Well, I’m sure you know a lot about that. Hmm...I sense another presence here. It seems I am not alone. Regardless, I am here to grant you power. The power to burn down those that stand in your way. Now then, sell me your soul so that we may form a contract._

_I am thou. Thou art I. Let the fires of hell run deep within your veins!_

Both Ryuji and Kevin get up, seeing the mask on each other’s faces. Ryuji donned a gray skull mask on the top half of his face, wearing a tight suit with a large red neckerchief and bright yellow gloves.

Kevin on the other hand had a dark gray mask that looked like the embodiment of death. He was wearing black gloves, a soft pointy hat, and black robes that made him look like the spitting image of a wizard.

The two proceeded to rip off their masks violently, summoning their Personas.

Morgana and Akira walked over to them, and the four of them prepared themselves for combat.

_Go, Captain Kidd!_

_Decimate them, Hades!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have gone a bit overboard with this chapter. Gotta say, I loved writing the Persona awakening. It was fun trying to come up with what to say for the contract. Also it was fun trying to think of ways to piss off Kamoshida. Seriously, ~~fuck~~ eff that guy.


	5. Suicide Prevention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys eat beef bowls.
> 
> Akira and Kevin hate ginger.
> 
> Shiho prepares to jump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _2/27/18 Edit: I changed this chapter because I got a new idea for what direction to take the story. Details on what changed are at the bottom._

The three boys escaped from Kamoshida’s castle again, appearing back in the real world. Morgana wanted their help for something, but they didn’t exactly promise to help in the first place.

The three of them were hungry, so Ryuji offered to treat them at a beef bowl place in Shibuya. There they listened to Akira’s story about how he got his criminal record.

“What? How much shittier can that asshole get?” Ryuji yelled loud enough for the whole restaurant and possibly even the kitchen staff to hear.

Kevin could do nothing but look down at his beef bowl as he listened to Akira’s story. Both Akira and Ryuji had such sad pasts. Meanwhile, he’s there living a life of rainbows and sunshine in comparison.

“It’s fine, it’s all in the past now” Akira said, a melancholy look on his face.

“Are you for real? If it was me, I wouldn’t stop until I punched that dick in the face!” said Ryuji.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, if it wasn’t for my criminal record, I would never have gotten to meet you two” Akira said.

Wow, Akira sure knew how to charm a guy.

“I mean...I’m glad we met and all, but not at the expense of your life.” Ryuji responded, completely oblivious to any of the gay undertones of what Akira just said. “You know, we might be more alike than we originally thought.”

The two of them seem to be getting along really well. Not surprising, they were both unfairly branded as delinquents because of some asshole adult. They could probably understand each other on a much deeper level than Kevin could ever hope to.

“Oh yeah, give me your number. Oh, and Chat ID, too. Oh yeah, I didn’t get your number either, Kevin. Do you use PeChat? If so, tell me your info so I can add you as well” Ryuji said excitedly as he held his phone out. It’s almost as if he’d never had a friend before. Oh right, he’s been alone since last year because of Kamoshida...

The three of them exchanged contact information.

“Hey, you barely even touched your food. Come on, there’s plenty of ginger to go around!” Ryuji said as he started filling Akira’s bowl with ginger.

“You too!” Ryuji said as he started filling Kevin’s bowl as well.

Kevin quickly put his hand on Ryuji’s to get him to stop. “I-it’s fine! You just worry about yourself, okay?”

“Come on man, let me at least do this for you. You did stand up to Kamoshida for me and all.” Ryuji replied, looking back at Kevin with his puppy-dog eyes.

Kevin just put his hand back and let Ryuji fill his bowl with more ginger. He absolutely hated ginger, but he didn’t have to heart to tell Ryuji that. After all, he looked a bit sad when he tried to stop him just now.

Kevin painfully scarfed down the mountain of ginger in his bowl. Akira also seemed to wince as he ate the ginger in his bowl.

When the three of them were finally finished eating, they all went home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day passed by in a flash. It’s the day of the volleyball rally. An event just for Kamoshida to boost his own ego? Kevin was certainly not interested, and most likely would Ryuji or Akira.

Kevin got up and texted Ryuji to see if he woke up yet. He finished getting ready and even walked out of his door yet he _still_ didn’t get a response from Ryuji. Kevin knocked on the door and didn’t get a response either. Kevin sighed as he went to the potted plant to grab the spare key. He didn’t really expect to have to use it so soon.

He entered the apartment, searching for Ryuji’s room. He approached a door with a skull poster on it. This had to be Ryuji’s room. Either that, or he has one badass mom who loves skulls.

Kevin opened the door and was greeted by Ryuji’s mess of a room. He walked over to Ryuji’s bed, trying to avoid stepping on as much stuff as he physically could.

“Ryuji! Wake up!” No response. Kevin just sighed as he went over to the kitchen to grab some ice from the freezer as well as some plastic wrap. He went back over to Ryuji and put the bag of ice on his neck and watched as Ryuji quickly shot up from his bed.

“W-what the hell, man?! What’s your problem? And hey, how did you get in my room?” Ryuji asked.

“Your mom told me where the spare key was, remember? Also, we’re going to be late for class if we don’t leave within the next 5 minutes” Kevin said to Ryuji.

“For real? Whoa, you’re right! Oh man, we’re totally gonna be late!” Ryuji said as he quickly got dressed and went to brush his teeth.

Kevin went ahead and got out a toaster and found some bread to make toast for Ryuji.

“Here, we don’t have much time so eat this on the way.”

“Thanks, man. Now come on, we’re going to miss the train!”

The two of them ran towards the station, with Ryuji carrying the slice of toast in his mouth like your typical anime school girl running late for school. They just barely made it in time for their train.

The two of them happened to see Akira on the way to school. Based on all the gossip, seems like everyone’s excited. Everyone except them of course.

Everyone got dressed and headed for the gym. Ryuji, Akira, and Kevin all sat along the wall near the volleyball court with Ryuji in the center. Through peripheral vision, Kevin could see Akira staring in his direction. He turned his head towards Akira and saw the raven-haired teen quickly look straight down. Was he staring at him? Or could it be…

His train of thought was interrupted as he heard a commotion. Apparently Kamoshida had spiked the ball straight into one of the players’ face. Some poor kid named Mishima. The guy was knocked out.

The ball rolled right in front of where Ryuji was sitting, so he tossed it back at the court.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The investigation was pretty fruitless, although they did get two names. Mishima and Suzui. Apparently they’re the ones who’ve been taking the worst of Kamoshida’s abuse.

When the three of them approached Mishima after school, he seemed more annoyed than thankful. Apparently everyone knows about the abuse, but nobody cares. How is Kamoshida managing to get away with everything he’s done?

They gave up on Mishima and tried to approach Suzui.

Ryuji and Kevin went around trying to interrogate more members of the volleyball team. Akira meanwhile coincidentally met Suzui.

When all was said and done, they met up at the courtyard.

“Man, this is a lot tougher than I thought. Do you two have any bright ideas?” Ryuji asked.

“Mmm...we could always try ruining his reputation. You know, take incriminating videos and uploading them anonymously on the internet. Will be hard for the school to ignore something that goes viral online” Kevin suggested.

“Hmm...not a bad idea, but we’d have to get evidence first. What about you, Akira?” Ryuji asked.

Akira paused for a second before responding “We should punish the king.”

King? Did he mean Kamoshida’s shadow? Would punishing him really do anything? After all, Kamoshida doesn’t even know about our escapades in his palace.

“I finally found you three” a familiar voice called out.

Morgana? And he’s a cat, too! Not some cartoony cat-like creature, but a straight up talking cat!

It wasn’t very convenient talking here, especially since a few teachers seemed to be looking for a cat on the premise. The four of them went up to the roof for some privacy.

According to Morgana, they could change Kamoshida’s heart by stealing his distorted desires. There’s a problem though. Supposedly Kamoshida has the possibility of dying as a result. Death, huh? Considering everything he witnessed, Kevin couldn’t say he’d feel bad one way or the other.

“I don’t know, man. If he dies, wouldn’t that basically be our fault? I don’t know how I feel about this” Ryuji said.

“...I’m all for it” Kevin responded, looking down at the ground.

“What? For real? If we screw up, Kamoshida’s gonna die! Then we’ll be no better than that asshole Kamoshida!” Ryuji said.

“Then so be it. I would gladly stain my hands with blood if it means ridding the world of assholes like Kamoshida” Kevin responded, surprising both Ryuji and Akira.

Seems like Ryuji and Akira couldn’t agree to stealing Kamoshida’s distorted desires. If they were going to do this together, they had to all be on the same page, so they left at that for now. Ryuji and Akira were both going to try and come up with better ideas in the meantime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First period started. Everything seemed normal at first. Well, everything except for the fact that the Suzui girl was absent. She did seem to come to class injured a lot. Maybe she finally decided to take a break?

“Hey, there’s a crowd outside”

“Wait, is that a girl on the roof?”

“Is she going to jump?”

What? A girl on the rooftop? Ryuji and Kevin looked at each other before rushing outside the classroom. It was true, Suzui was standing on top of the rooftop on the opposite side of the fence.

“F-for real? She’s not really going to jump, is she?” Ryuji asked, fearing for the life of his classmate.

Kevin started running in the direction of the stairs and quickly headed towards the roof. He wasn’t sure if he would make it, but it was the only thing he could do at this point! He reached the top of the stairs and shouted out “Don’t jump!”

Suzui was startled and turned around to see Kevin there. “Tanaka-san?”

Kevin walked closer to where Shiho was. “If you jump, that’s going to be the end of everything. You won’t be able to take it back, and you’ll be filled with regrets. Is that what you want?”

Suzui just turned around, not wanting her face to be seen. “No, it’s not. But I- I just can’t go on anymore! A voice in my head keeps telling me to jump. That all of my suffering will end.”

“What about your friends? What about your family? Aren’t they important to you? If you jump, how do you think they’ll all feel?”

Suzui looked conflicted. She didn’t want to die, but the voice inside her head won’t stop. Suddenly, another girl ran up the stairs. “Shiho!”

“Ann?” Shiho was surprised to see her friend.

Ann walked over to her friend and grabbed onto the fence. “Shiho, what are you doing, you idiot? Get back over here! Don’t you know how worried I am?!”

“Ann… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you, I just couldn’t take it anymore...” Shiho dropped to her knees and grabbed onto the fence, crying.

Kevin felt like it was getting a bit awkward for him to stand there and watch, so he headed back down the stairs.

“Wait!” Ann called out to Kevin. “Thanks… for stopping Shiho. I don’t know what I’d have done if she really did jump.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m just glad she’s safe.” Kevin left, heading back to the classroom until he saw Akira and Ryuji waiting for him. Ryuji seemed upset while Akira was still as calm and composed as always. The two of them called him over to the courtyard for a meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe that asshole! A student just tried to kill herself because of him, and he doesn’t so much as bat an eye!” Ryuji yelled as he punched a vending machine.

Kevin and Akira just watched as Ryuji let out all his anger on the poor machine.

“On the bright side Suzui is still alive, although who knows when there might be another victim. However, maybe this event will be enough to cause an investigation into the school. After all, a student just tried to kill herself, the school can’t stay silent on that matter” Kevin stated.

“That won’t work.” The three of them turned their heads to see Ann.

“What do you mean? And what about Suzui?” Kevin asked.

“She’s in the nurse’s office sleeping. Although before I left, Kamoshida and the principal both came into the room. They asked that Shiho stay quiet on the matter… No, more like they threatened her!” The three of them couldn’t believe their ears. The principal asked her to stay quiet? That explains how Kamoshida has gotten away with everything so far. The principal has been in on it the entire time!

“I heard you two are getting expelled as well. The whole school’s talking about it” Ann said.

Ryuji and Akira? Expelled? What happened while he was with Shiho?

Ann was persistent, but Ryuji kept denying her help. Eventually Ann runs away. After class ended, the four of them head out to the alleyway to go into Kamoshida’s palace together with their uninvited guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Edit: So instead of having Kevin jump off from the second floor and saving Shiho mid-jump and then revealing that he can channel some of his persona powers in the real world, I changed it so he runs to the roof and just stops her. If any of the later chapters mention Kevin having persona powers in real life, it means I most likely missed it._
> 
> Shiho jumping off the roof was such a sad scene. I was a bit sad that she wasn't a more prominent character in the game because of it.
> 
> Also, hopefully the pace of the story picks up a bit. I ended up cutting out about 2 chapters worth of stuff I wrote for the sake of speeding things up a bit (including an entire scene involving the volleyball rally).


	6. Dinner Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin gets a code name.
> 
> Ryuji cleans his room.
> 
> The two eat dinner together.

Kevin threw himself on his bed again. It had been a long day. He went to the Kamoshida’s palace with Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana again and fought against a bunch of monsters called Shadows. Although it was fun coming up with code names for each other. Akira is Joker. Ryuji is Skull. Morgana is Mona. As for Kevin, they decided to go with the name “Mage”. After all, his outfit made him look a lot like a black mage from an RPG. Plus, he carries around a staff and exclusively uses magic attacks.

At the castle, everyone also discovered Joker’s ability to use multiple personas. Seems there’s a great deal that even Morgana doesn’t know about the metaverse.

Ann apparently stumbled back into the palace as well. There, she awakened her own Persona, so the group of four now became five.

The next day, the five of them met up on the school rooftop. Morgana told them that they’ll need medicine while in the metaverse to help infiltrate Kamoshida’s palace, so everyone dispersed for the day while Akira went off to some unknown location with Morgana.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ryuji opened the door to his house, Kevin called out to him.

“Hold on, Ryuji.”

“What is it?” Ryuji asked.

“Since we’re not spending time going to Kamoshida’s palace today, we’re going to spend the afternoon cleaning your room” Kevin said.

Ryuji did not look happy to hear that. “What? For real? What are you, my mom?”

Ryuji complained, but he ended up agreeing. After all, his room was a mess! Kevin did not want to trudge through all that filth every day to wake him up. 

The two of them spent the afternoon cleaning Ryuji’s room. How Ryuji managed to go live in a room littered with soda cans and empty ramen cups everywhere is a mystery. Also apparently Ryuji has like 10 of every shirt, jacket, and pants he owns. Made sense since Ryuji would always wear the same shirt every day, although why he bought the same shirt 10 times was beyond Kevin. 

“Finally done!” Ryuji said as he threw himself on his bed. Suddenly his stomach starts rumbling. “Man, I’m starving.”

Seems like the sun had already set. Guess they had spent a long time cleaning Ryuji’s room. Well, it was his fault for letting it get so dirty in the first place.

“You wanna go grab something to eat then?” Kevin asked.

“Nah, I think I’ll just get some cup ramen” the lazy blond said as he lay on the bed.

“You really should eat something healthier than cup ramen” Kevin told him.

“Yeah, I know. But I’m running low on cash right now, so I can’t exactly go out and eat” Ryuji said, not getting up from his bed.

Kevin walked over to the kitchen and checked the refrigerator. Seems like his mom doesn’t keep the refrigerator particularly stocked, but there was still some stuff he could use.

“Hey, mind if I use your kitchen for a bit?” Kevin asked Ryuji.

“Huh? Uh, sure. That’s fine” Ryuji responded.

Kevin went back to his room to grab a few things before coming back. He got to work starting up the rice cooker before combining some ground beef with various other ingredients like eggs, soy sauce, panko, and onions. Ryuji meanwhile just watched on the side.

“Dude, you can cook?” Ryuji asked as he watched, wondering what Kevin was making.

“Yeah. Since I’m living alone and all, being able to cook is much more convenient that going out to eat everyday” Kevin responded.

After about an hour, dinner was served.

“Here you go, one hamburg steak. Enjoy!” Kevin said as he handed Ryuji a plate of food.

Ryuji dug into his food. “Whoa, this is delicious! It’s better than anything my mom makes! Where’d you learn to cook, man?”

“From online videos, recipes, and just experimenting in general. It’s not hard, just takes a lot of time” Kevin replied.

Both of them ate while chatting about school, games, just whatever caught their interest. After a few minutes, Ryuji suddenly goes silent and stops eating.

“Is something wrong?” Kevin asked.

“It’s just...do you really think we can change Kamoshida’s heart?” Ryuji asked.

“I’m sure we can. With the five of us working together I’m sure we can steal his treasure” Kevin responded, trying to console the kid.

Ryuji shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, do you think we can really trust Morgana?”

Morgana? True we don’t know much about Morgana. And he seems to have some sort of ulterior motive beyond stealing Kamoshida’s treasure.

“I think he’s trustworthy. At the very least he hasn’t betrayed us yet” Kevin responded.

“It’s not that I think Morgana’s lying. It’s just...he hasn’t even stolen a treasure before! What if he’s wrong and stealing his treasure doesn’t do anything? I mean, he didn’t even know about Akira’s power to use more than one persona!” Ryuji said.

Ryuji turns his head down. “If this plan doesn’t work out, then Akira and I are gonna get expelled. I’m already a huge disappointment, I can’t do make things worse for my mom.”

“Ryuji…”

“Plus, Akira has a criminal record. If he gets expelled again, that means the cops are gonna send him to juvie.” Ryuji put his hands to his head. “I don’t know how I can even face him anymore if that happens. It’s all my fault for charging into Kamoshida’s office like that!”

Even though he’s faced with expulsion, he’s still worrying more about others. 

“You must care a lot about your mom and Akira” Kevin said to Ryuji.

“Of course. My mom’s always been there for me. Without her, I wouldn’t even be here. And Akira...he’s my best friend. N-not that we’re not best friends or anything! Just, there’s something special about Akira” Ryuji said, trying not to offend Kevin.

“You mean because how you two are in similar situations, correct?”

“Yeah… I don’t know, I just feel like he understands me. You get what I mean? I just… I just don’t know what I’d do without him” Ryuji said, almost on the verge of tears.

Kevin looks at Ryuji with sadness in his eyes. “It’s going to work” Kevin says with conviction. Ryuji looks up at Kevin. “It has to work. And if it doesn’t, we’ll just come up with something else. We still have time, after all.”

Ryuji seemed to cheer up after hearing that.

“You know what, you’re right! That bastard’s gonna get what’s coming to him! We’ll make sure of it!” Ryuji said, no longer looking downcast.

Hopefully things work out well. Kevin’s doesn’t have much to worry about, but for Ryuji and Akira, their livelihoods are on the line. They’ve both had their lives ruined once before, he can’t let that happen to them again!

“Seconds please!” Ryuji said as he held out his plate with a smile beaming on his face.

“You sure can eat” Kevin said as he went to go cook some of the leftovers.

“I can’t help it, it’s soooo good!” Ryuji said.

“If you want, I can cook for us more often” said Kevin.

Ryuji seemed surprised to hear that. “N-no, I can’t trouble you any more than I already have!”

“It’s fine. It’d actually help me out a bit. Cooking for one person is one of the hardest things to do, so I usually end up eating the same thing three days in a row whenever I cook. Plus, it’d be a good way for me to learn how to cook better” Kevin stated. “Plus, I’m sure your mom isn’t eating well either. I can make something for her to heat up after work as well.”

“For real? I mean, if it’s not too much trouble, then I’d like that” Ryuji said. “Thanks.”

“No problem” Kevin said.  A slight smile forms on his face. “But you’ll have to do the dishes afterwards.”

“Wha- Hey, you just wanted someone else to do the dishes for you, don’t you?!” Ryuji yelled.

“More or less” Kevin said.

The two of them laughed as they finished eating dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cooking for one person is one of the hardest thing ever. Also I imagine Ryuji as someone who'd either eat cup ramen every day or just go out and eat whatever he wants. Thought it'd be nice if Kevin just cooked for the two of them for both the sake of his health and for a scene I have planned out soon in the future. And as a way for them to just bond further.
> 
> Also, trying to push the whole pegoryu thing a bit harder. The palaces won't take up a lot of time, so hopefully the pegoryu events I have planned can happen soon!


	7. Coming Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji and Ann fail midterms.
> 
> Shiho confesses.
> 
> Kevin comes out to the team.

A few weeks had passed. The whole ordeal with Kamoshida passed by in a flash. A lot had happened in the past few weeks. The Phantom Thieves had officially been established, the group of kids and their talking cat went to a place called Mementos, and they had even taken midterms.

Ann is at the board where scores were posted. Soon, Kevin and Ryuji arrive as well to check their grades.

“Yo, Ann! How’d you do on the midterm?” Ryuji asked.

Ann lets out a sigh. “I blew it. My grades are even worse than last year. What about you guys?”

Ryuji goes to the board and looks for his name. He suddenly yells out in excitement “Whoa! I did it! My grades went up from last year! I’m finally in the double digits!”

Double digits? Kevin walks over to the scoreboard and sure enough, there was Ryuji’s name. 99th place out of 108. Kevin just stares in awe. “Ryuji, how you be happy at a time like this?”

“What do you mean? I went up 5 whole ranks! It must be thanks to all those study sessions with Akira!” Ryuji exclaimed, not embarrassed to admit he was at the bottom of the class.

“Ryuji! You’re 99th place out of 108! You didn’t even pass a single subject! How do you expect to get into college with grades like these?” Kevin yelled at him, concerned about his friend’s future.

Ann laughs a bit seeing Kevin scold Ryuji.

“Ann, you’re not in a position to be laughing either. You’re 83rd in the class. You didn’t pass anything except for English. What are you going to do if your modelling career doesn’t work out?” Kevin said to Ann.

Ann’s mood suddenly drops. “W-well…”

“Stop making fun of Lady Ann! She tried her best, so that’s all that matters!”

The three of them turned around to see Akira with Morgana in his bag again. Seriously, how is he able to get away with bringing Morgana to class every day?

“How’d you do, Akira? Did you fail like the rest of us?” Ryuji asks.

Akira walks over to the board and finds his name. “I think I did alright.”

“Oh, 18th place. Not bad. That’s our fearless leader.” Kevin says, impressed with Akira’s dedication.

“What? For real? You traitor!” Ryuji says, looking betrayed that his best friend was leaving him alone at the bottom of the class.

“Next time, we should probably hold some study sessions together. There’s no way I’m trusting you two to study on your own” Kevin said to Ann and Ryuji.

“W-what about you? You’re acting all high and mighty, but what did you get?” Ryuji asks, pointing his finger at Kevin.

“Mmmm, I think I did alright as well” Kevin nonchalantly says.

“Alright my ass. Let’s see here…Tanaka Kevin...” Ryuji looks up the list trying to find Kevin’s name. He finally finds Kevin’s name and stares wide-eyed as his results. “F-f-f-f-first place?! For real?!”

“Hehe, not bad, right?” Kevin says, putting up a peace sign.

Ann had to help Kevin drag Ryuji to his classroom as his soul started leaving his body from the shock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Class ends. Ryuji and Kevin walk over to the lockers to change out of their shoes.

“Man, why didn’t you tell me you were so smart? I could’ve asked you for help” Ryuji asks.

Kevin chuckles. “I mean I would offered, but it seems like you really enjoyed those late night study sessions with Akira.”

When Kevin opened his locker, he notices a pink letter.

“Duuuuude! Is that a love letter? Right on! Congrats, man!” Ryuji said as he pat Kevin’s back.

Kevin didn’t look happy though. He opened the letter and it asked to meet him on the school rooftop.

Ryuji completely oblivious of how Kevin was feeling just continues beaming him a smile. “Hey, let me know how it goes later! I gotta know what happens!”

Kevin proceeds to go upstairs towards the roof. He opens the door and there he sees Shiho.

“H-hi there, Suzui-san” he says to the girl staring past the fence.

After Shiho tried to jump off the roof, she stopped coming to school for a while. She didn’t return until after Kamoshida’s confession. Shiho turned around to face Kevin. “Tanaka-san. I’m sure you know why I called you up here.”

Kevin nods as he walks over closer to Shiho.

“You know, there’s actually another reason why I wanted to come up here. The day I tried to jump, I...I heard a voice in my head telling me to kill myself. I wanted to come up here, to see if the voice was still there.” Shiho looks up to the sky. “It seems like she’s gone. I don’t have to worry about her anymore. And it’s all thanks to you, Tanaka-san.”

Kevin looks at her, a bit of sadness in his eyes. “It...it was nothing.”

Shiho shakes her head. “It’s not nothing! You saved my life! If you hadn’t been there to stop me, I might not even be here anymore.” Shiho walks closer to Kevin. “Tanaka-san. I love you. Will you please go out with me?”

Kevin looks away from Shiho, not wanting to look her in the eyes. “I’m sorry, but I can’t return your feelings.”

Shiho’s breath hitched, a sad smile forming on her face. “I had a feeling this was going to happen.” She wipes a tear from her eyes. “Would you mind telling me why?”

Kevin seemed to hesitate a bit before answering. “The truth is…” Was he really going to tell her? He’d been keeping it a secret this entire time worrying about people judging him. No, she had a right to know. Besides, Shiho isn’t like the rest of the girls, she won’t go around blabbing her mouth. “The truth is, I’m gay.”

Shiho’s eyes widen as she hears it. “O-oh, I see. I’m sorry, this must be very awkward for you then.” She looks away from Kevin’s eyes. “Thanks...for telling me. I feel a lot better now that I’ve confessed.”

Shiho walks away, trying hard to force a smile on her face. She didn’t want to put a damper on Kevin’s mood.

Kevin waits a bit before walking home. He didn’t want to bump into Shiho on the way down.

“Oh. My. God. The new kid is gay? Wait until everyone hears about this!” A classmate had come to the roof to smoke a cigarette in secret. Little did he expect to hear such juicy gossip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin returns to his home, throwing himself on his bed. He didn’t realize how hard it was rejecting someone, especially someone as nice as Shiho. But he couldn’t exactly help his sexuality. Plus, he had other reasons for rejecting her as well. Suddenly he hears a text message.

Ryuji: Hey man, how’d it go?

Kevin: I turned her down.

Ryuji: What? Why’d you do that?!

Kevin really did not want to talk about it right now.

Kevin: I have my reasons.

Ryuji: Who was the girl anyways? Was she cute?

Kevin: She was cute. As for who it was, that’s a secret.

Ryuji: Awww, come on! Don’t leave a guy hanging!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day arrives. Ryuji continued interrogating Kevin on the confession. Kevin refused to give an answer, so he started naming off all the girls in the school.

Lunchtime arrives. Ryuji continues naming off random girls. Kevin just keeps denying every answer. Suddenly, a guy approaches Kevin. “Hey, gay freak!”

Kevin gets startled, but he pretends he didn’t hear, hoping the guy would go away. A hand slams onto his desk.

“I’m talking to you, new kid!” the guy yells, getting everyone’s attention. “Heard you like kissing guys.”

How did he find out? Did Shiho tell everyone? Kevin didn’t peg her as that kind of person.

“N-no, that’s not true” Kevin said, hoping the guy would leave him alone.

“Don’t lie! Someone heard you and Suzui on the roof.”

So that’s how he found out. Kevin started panicking. He told Shiho because it only felt fair, he didn’t want the entire school finding out. He especially didn’t want Ryuji to find out.

“Dude, leave him alone! What’s your problem?” Ryuji yells at the kid.

Kevin’s breathing suddenly calms down. Ryuji was defending him?

“You’re defending this freak, Sakamoto? Oh, I see. I thought you two seemed close. Who would’ve thought the delinquent and the new kid were dating!” the guy said, trying to taunt both of them.

“Wha- N-no, we’re not! I just can't stand judgemental assholes like you!” Ryuji stammered.

“That’s right, we’re just friends. Sounds like you’re just projecting” Kevin says to the guy.

The kid seemed mad. “What did you say?”

Kevin gets up from his seat. “Hey, no need to be shy. If you wanted to have a good time, you could’ve just asked. Acting all jealous isn’t cute at all” Kevin says as he puts a finger to the guy’s chin.

The kid slaps away Kevin’s hand. “D-don’t fucking touch me, you freak!” The kid storms off.

Kevin sits down and starts laughing. “It’s always fun screwing with people like that.”

Ryuji looks at Kevin. “Hey, are you alright?”

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for sticking up for me back there” Kevin responds.

“It was nothing. I just couldn’t let that guy talk down on you like that” Ryuji says. “So, uh...you’re, you know…”

“Yeah, I’m gay. Is that a problem?” Kevin asks.

“No, of course not! I wouldn’t judge you for something like that. I’m just surprised is all. I wish you’d told me sooner” Ryuji said, a bit sad Kevin didn’t trust him enough to tell him.

Kevin smiled back at Ryuji. “Sorry, it just didn’t seem important. After all, my heart’s already taken. Doesn’t matter whether I’m gay, straight, or bi.”

“What? For real? So you like someone? Who is it? Tell me!” Ryuji asks with a bright smile on his face.

Kevin suddenly turns red. “L-let’s just forget about it!”

“Come on, man! Don’t leave me hanging again!” Ryuji whines.

Ryuji continues pestering Kevin on details, but he doesn’t give anymore details. He was glad though, that his best friend here in Japan accepted him for what he was. Kevin decided it was worth mentioning to the team, so he told everyone at the next Phantom Thieves meeting. It’s always difficult coming out, but he was glad he did.   
  



	8. Ferris Wheel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji throws up.
> 
> Akira compliments him.
> 
> The two ride the Ferris Wheel together.

Madarame’s palace has finally been taken down. The Phantom Thieves along with their newest member Yusuke waited out the rest of the deadline. Now, the students of Shujin have their social studies field trip to worry about. 

The trip to the TV station was probably the most boring then ever. Nothing exciting happened, and the information was all so dull and boring. Thankfully, at Morgana’s suggestion, they all decided to have fun at the amusement park in Dome Town.

They four Shujin students Akira, Ryuji, Kevin, and Ann all rode on the roller coaster. It was a lot of fun, they all screamed their heads off. Ryuji ended up puking after the ride was over. Akira followed him to make sure he was fine. Akira seemed awfully attached the the blond delinquent. They had spent a lot of time together back during Kamoshida’s palace, but now it seems like they’re joined at the hips.

Ryuji and Akira are finally back. Ryuji looked like a mess.

“See? This is why I said not to go on the puke rides” Morgana said, looking smug as ever.

“Shut up, that ride was totally worth puking for. Not that a cat would understand” Ryuji retorted.

Morgana gets into his battle stance again and yells out “I am not a cat!”

Ryuji looks back at the group. “So where to next? We’ve probably got time for another ride or two.”

Ann looks around the park and sees something that catches her eye. “Oh! Why don’t we ride the Ferris Wheel?”

The Ferris Wheel, huh? They could get a good view of the city from up top. Sounds interesting.

The four of them headed over to the Ferris Wheel and saw two lines, a long one for general admission and a significantly shorter one for couples.

“Man, the line’s too long, we don’t have enough time to get on” Ryuji says, disappointed they walked all the way over for nothing.

“What are you talking about? The line over there’s pretty short” Kevin said, pointing at the couples’ line.

“Dude, that’s for couples. We only have one girl here, how are we supposed to make two couples?” said Ryuji.

Kevin clings onto Ryuji’s arm and smiles at him. “Like this, of course.” Kevin looked over at Akira and saw a surprised look on his face. He wondered if there was also some jealousy mixed into that as well.

Ryuji freaks out. “Wha? No! No no no no no. I’m not pretending to be your boyfriend.”

Kevin lets go of his arm, looking disappointed. “Fine, then I’ll go with Ann then.”

Now Ann gets flustered. “What? For real? Why me and not Akira?”

“Because your acting is pretty terrible. And Ryuji’s far from romantic. If we want to trick the attendant there, then Akira and I will have to do most of the talking” Kevin said to the group. Seems like his logic convinced the group, but truth be told he wanted to be with Ann to try and confirm whether Akira liked Ryuji or not.

“But that means I’d be with Akira. He’s my best bro and all, but I can’t force him into pretending to be my boyfriend” Ryuji says as he looks at Akira.

“I’m fine with it if you are, Ryuji” Akira says to his blond friend, blushing slightly.

Kevin claps his hands together. “Then it’s settled! Ann and I will pretend to be a couple and Akira and Ryuji can pretend to be another.”

The four of them get in the couples line for the Ferris Wheel. After about half an hour of waiting, it was finally their turn.

“My, you two are a lovely couple. How long have you two been dating?” the attendant asked Ann and Kevin.

“We’ve been dating for a whole month now. Isn’t that right, Ann-chan?” Kevin says with a smile on his face.

“Of course! What better way to celebrate our one month anniversary than to go on the Ferris Wheel together?” Ann says in her terrible lying voice.

“I see. What was it that you see in each other?” asked the attendant.

“O-oh, um. I just  _ really _ like how smart he is! Kevin is top of the class, after all!” Ann said, again in her very fake and obvious lying voice.

“Awww, Ann-chan! As for me, I can’t pick any one thing, I love everything about you!” Kevin says to Ann, making her flustered.

“Alright, looks like the next pod is open. You two enjoy the view up there” the attendant says to Kevin and Ann.

Ryuji just stares in awe wondering how Kevin managed to pretend to be Ann’s boyfriend so easily. Especially since he didn’t even like girls!

Next up was the boys’ turn.

“Uhh, you two do know this is for couples, right?” the attendant says as he looks at the two boys.

“Yeah, that’s what we are. A couple. Is there anything wrong with that?” Akira says as he puts an arm around Ryuji and pulls him in closer.

Ryuji starts blushing. Akira was getting way too into this.

“N-no, nothing’s wrong! I just wanted to make sure is all” the attendant stammers. “S-so what is it that you two like about each other?”

Ryuji’s mind goes blank. He tries to come up with the first thing he can come up with. “H-he... he smells really nice!” Ryuji suddenly realizes how weird that sounded and quickly corrects himself. “L-like coffee! He smells like coffee all the time, and it smells really good!”

“I-I see. What about you, what do you see in your, er, boyfriend?” the attendant asks Akira.

“I love everything about Ryuji. He’s strong, he’s kind, and he’s dependable. He always thinks about others before himself, to the point I always get worried he’s going to hurt himself. He can be a bit of a child sometimes, but I find that part of him cute. Also he has the cutest smile in the world, especially when he’s running. He just looks so carefree” Akira says with no hesitation. 

At this point, Ryuji’s face was beet red. “D-dude! Don’t just say stuff like that! It’s embarrassing!” Ryuji said as he covered his face with his hands. Seems like Ryuji isn’t good with compliments.

“A-alright, looks like the next pod is here. You two lovebirds get on” the attendant said to the two of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two of them got on the Ferris Wheel, Ryuji’s face still red from hearing everything from Akira’s mouth.

Akira’s the first one to break the silence. “Look, Ryuji, sorry if I made things awkward between us.”

Ryuji looks back wide-eyed at Akira. “N-no, i-it’s fine! I was just a bit caught off guard is all. But, thanks, man.”

“For what?” Akira asks.

“For everything you said earlier. I know it was just a lie to trick the attendant and all, but it still made me happy to hear, you know?”

Akira away from Ryuji. “I-it wasn’t a lie. I really do mean everything I said. You’re the best friend I could ever ask for.”

“Heh, look at Mr. Charming over here. If I were a girl, I probably would’ve fallen for you already” Ryuji says to him.

Akira blushes when Ryuji says that. That was probably the closest thing to a confession he was going to get from Ryuji, and it made him happy. Suddenly, Akira’s bag starts moving.

“Ugh, can you two please leave your gross couple’s talk for when you’re alone? I’d rather not have my ears tainted by your flirting” Morgana says to the two of them.

“Wha- Morgana? You brought the cat with you?” Ryuji yells out.

“Of course. I wasn’t going to wait outside all by myself for who knows how long for the Ferris Wheel to go a full circle” said Morgana.

 

Once Akira and Ryuji get off the Ferris Wheel, they meet back up with Ann and Kevin.

“So how did it go, you two?” Kevin asks them.

Ryuji kicks the ground looking disappointed. “Well, it was fun until Morgana popped out of nowhere.”

“Well I would’ve stayed still if you two weren’t flirting the entire time!” Morgana yells out at Ryuji.

Akira starts blushing when Morgana says that. Ryuji on the other hand just vehemently denies it. “Wha- No! We weren’t flirting! We were just two bros talking like bros, okay?”

Kevin felt bad for Akira. He knew the feeling of unrequited love. He could tell that Akira was in love with Ryuji, yet Ryuji remained completely oblivious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some Pegoryu! I was so disappointed when Ryuji shot down your invitation to the Ferris Wheel if you take him on a date to Dome Town. Why must you do this to us, Atlus?!


	9. Study Session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto holds a study session.
> 
> Everyone just plays games.
> 
> Somehow they managed to study.

Kaneshiro’s palace has been taken care of and the group now has a new member: the student council president of Shujin Makoto Niijima.

With two weeks left before midterms, the Phantom Thieves decide to hold a study session together, courtesy of Makoto.

Ryuji throws his arms and his head on the table in Leblanc. “Why do we gotta study so much? We just saved Shibuya from a freakin’ mafia boss, we should be given a break!”

“Maybe if you paid more attention in class instead of texting in the Phantom Thieves’ chat you wouldn’t have to cram so much” Kevin says to Ryuji while he helps Ann study math problems.

“I can’t help it, class is so boring! And I always get distracted by games while I’m studying at home” Ryuji complains.

Ann suddenly chimes in. “I know, right? I just start playing games on my phone after studying for a bit and before I know it, the day’s already over.”

“I just end up grinding for hours and suddenly it’s three in the morning.” Both Ryuji and Ann just sigh.

“Both of you need to take your studies seriously. You’re both at the bottom of the class” Makoto says to the two.

Kevin sighs at their complaints. “Fine, I get it. I’ll try to find a way for you two to concentrate better on studying.”

Makoto looks over to Kevin with an incredulous look. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“Give me a week and you’ll find out. You guys won’t mind holding another study session same time next Sunday, would you?” Kevin asks the group.

Everyone seems to be fine with the time. “Good, then in the meantime, make sure you guys study what you can. Especially you two” Kevin says, glaring at Ann and Ryuji.

“Yes, sir” Ryuji and Ann lazily reply back.

After the study session ends, Ryuji and Kevin start walking back home. 

“So what are you planning to do to help us study?” Ryuji asks.

Kevin puts his hand on his chin. “I could tell you, but I think it’ll be better to keep it as a surprise. Oh, but I’ll probably be busy for the next week, so you’ll have to get food for yourself for the next few days.”

“For real? I guess I’ll just live off Cup Ramen for a week again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The thieves carried on their normal school routines, although they’ve started noticing that the bags under Kevin’s eyes have been getting heavier and heavier. They even went over to Mementos one day and he ended up falling asleep on the Mona car, and even proceeded to stay sleeping on the cold, hard tracks when Mona transformed back into a cat for combat!

When the day of their study session finally arrives, Kevin sends a link into the Phantom Thieves’ chat.

The thieves all gather in Leblanc, although they all take notice of how tired Kevin looks.

“Dude, you sure you’re alright? You even fell asleep on the train ride here” Ryuji says to Kevin.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need a quick nap. You guys downloaded that thing I sent you, right?” Kevin asks the group.

“I took a look at it, but...a game? I thought you said you were going to help them study” Makoto says.

“That’s only part of it. Here, before we start, can you quiz Ann and Ryuji on these questions, Makoto? Oh, and you can join in as well, Akira, but give Ann and Ryuji a chance to answer first since they’re the ones who need the help.” Kevin hands a notebook to Makoto.

Makoto grabs the notebook. “Sure, I can handle that.”

After handing the notebook over to Makoto, Kevin ends up falling asleep with his head resting against the wall.

Makoto quizzed the trio, although Akira was the only one who knew most of the answers. Ryuji and Ann both got less than 10% of the questions right.

“Come on, you two really need to take this more seriously. This is all basic information, you won’t be able to pass at this rate” Makoto says to the two of them with concern in her eyes.

“This is too hard! I need a break. Oh yeah, I guess we should check out that thing Kevin sent to us” Ryuji says as he lazily takes out his phone. “Arsene Quest? Have either of you checked it out yet?”

“I tried playing the first few minutes of it, but...it felt really poorly designed. Who made this thing anyways?” Ann asks.

“Don’t play for too long though. You guys don’t have much time left, and with these scores I’m really worried about how you’ll all do on the final” Makoto says to the three of them.

After about an hour, all three of the second years were completely glued to their phones.

Makoto is slightly annoyed with all of them. “Alright you three, put away your phones now, we need to get back to studying.”

“J-just a minute, I have to help this Pope Joan lady” said Ryuji, not even looking up from his phone.

“Same here, I still have to collect some luciferin for this quest. I’ll stop once I’m done” Ann says to Makoto.

Another half hour passes by.

“Ah! I’m fed up with this stupid game! I gave that fisherman a crab, but he keeps complaining saying it’s not a crab!” Ryuji says, looking like he’s ready to throw his phone across the cafe.

“That’s because you’ve been giving him red king crabs. They’re hermit crabs, not regular crabs like he asked” Akira says to the blond.

“Wait, there’s a difference? I just gave the guy the first one I saw and it worked!” Ann says looking surprised.

Makoto looks even more annoyed than before. “It’s been another half hour, and you three are still glued to that game. Please take this more seriously!”

Finally another hour passes and Ann starts bursting into tears. “No, poor Arsene! Why did Kidd and Goemon have to die?”

Ryuji seemed to be holding back some tears. “Yeah, that Hideyoshi guy was a real bastard boiling Goemon alive like that.”

At this point, Makoto is completely fed up with the group. “I hope you two are happy! You spent the entire time doing nothing except playing that game! How do you expect to pass your finals next week?”

Kevin wakes up from his nap at this point. “Did you three finish playing the game?” he said while yawning.

“Yes, they spent the entire session playing that game you sent. They didn’t get any studying done at all” Makoto said.

Kevin reaches for his notebook. “Wow, less than 20% for the two of you combined. This was a lot worse than I expected. Let’s see how you two fare this time around.”

“Don’t expect too much. They haven’t so much as touched their books this entire time” Makoto says to Kevin.

“Okay, question for Ryuji. The original blazers were named thanks to a certain quality they had. What was it?”

“Oh, you mean those things everyone in town was wearing, right? They were really brightly colored!” Ryuji answered with a smile. 

Makoto just looks at Ryuji a bit surprised he got that correct this time around.

“Correct. Now then, Ann’s turn. How much gold has been excavated by humanity over the course of history?”

“Oh, three Olympic-sized pools! Arsene mentioned how there’s enough gold in the world to fill three pools, so his goal was to fill at least two!”

Makoto looks surprised again that Ann managed to that question with no hesitation.

“Correct. Ryuji, what happens if you keep washing your hair with water contaminated with metal?”

Ryuji looks a bit confused at the question.

“Okay, let me reword the question then. In the game, Captain Kidd washed his hair with water contaminated with bronze. What happened after?”

Suddenly Ryuji looks like he’s struck with an epiphany.” Oh, oh! His hair turned blonde! Man, it was funny seeing him freaking out only for Arsene to tell him it really suited him!”

Akira seemed to blush, understanding the real meaning behind that scene. Kevin just looks back at him and smiles before looking back at his notebook.

“Correct. Ann, who was the pirate who was said to have hidden his treasure before he was executed?”

“Oh, it was William Kidd! Poor Kidd. He sacrificed himself to make sure that at least Arsene survived” Ann says as she prepares to cry again.

“For real. I almost teared up at that scene. He told Arsene where he hid his treasure before he charged his ship into the enemies. Told him to make his dream come true for the two of them” Ryuji says trying his best not to cry.

“And then when Arsene opens up the treasure, not only does he get a letter saying how much he meant to him, but he also finds a picture of the two of them together! My heart can’t handle it!” Ann says as she starts crying again.

“Yeah, the two were such good bros. Why’d he have to be such a self-sacrificing idiot?” Ryuji says, completely oblivious to the meaning behind the scene. Akira has a pained expression upon hearing Ryuji’s response.

At this point, Makoto chimes in. “Wait, hold on! Are you saying the game you sent has all the answers to all those questions you wrote in your notebook?”

Kevin looks back at Makoto. “Yeah, that’s right. Although I guess some of the questions weren’t emphasized enough.”

Makoto looks speechless upon hearing that. “Where did you manage to find something like that?”

“Oh, it’s just something I slapped together in a week.” Kevin nonchalantly says.

Ryuji and Ann seemed surprised to hear that. 

“Wait, you made this? For real?! Dude, is there anything you  _ can’t _ do?” asked Ryuji.

“Make a good game apparently. I seem to recall someone saying it was poorly designed?” Kevin says with a smirk on his face.

Ann gets startled. “Ah! Uh, I-”

Kevin just laughs at Ann panicking. “Don’t worry, I know it’s terrible. Like I said, it was just something I slapped together in a week so I took a lot of shortcuts just to get it done. Oh, but the game was only designed to help supplement the school’s material. You won’t be able to pass just by playing it. Make sure you actually study your notes now.”

Ryuji and Ann lazily respond back, “Yes, sir…”

“Hey now, don’t be like that. How about this, I’ll give you each a reward if you get above the class average. What do you say?” Kevin says to Ann and Ryuji.

Both of them suddenly look excited.

“I wanna see that movie Cake Knight Rises!” Ryuji yells out.

“Oh! I want to go to that buffet again!” Ann yells out.

“What? No fair, that buffet’s so much more expensive than a movie!” Ryuji yells at Ann.

Kevin felt like he just doomed his wallet from saying that. “Alright, so I’ll take Ann out to the buffet. As for Ryuji, we can go watch the movie and have ramen afterwards. Does that work?”

Both Ann and Ryuji seemed satisfied.

“However, if you two don’t at least pass half your subjects, there’s going to be a punishment. Got it?” Kevin says with a sadistic smile forming on his face.

Both Ann and Ryuji just gulped at the thought of what Kevin had in store and did their best to study for the finals. It was starting to get late, so the group disbanded.


	10. Crying Out Love In The Middle Of The Movie Theater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin abducts Morgana.
> 
> The two go with Ann to the buffet.
> 
> Akira and Ryuji watch a romance movie together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I am so bad at writing fluff. This was the best I could do.

Two weeks passed. The group had finished taking their finals and their scores have been posted. Ann and Ryuji both have their eyes closed as they walk over to the scoreboard with Kevin. Akira is just standing there waiting for all of them.

“I’m too scared to open my eyes” Ann says.

“M-me too. Can we just pretend the scores don’t exist?” Ryuji says, worried about what kind of punishment he’d receive if he didn’t do well.

“Come on, the scores aren’t going anywhere” Kevin says to the two of them.

Ann and Ryuji both open their eyes to check their grades, both staring wide-eyed at the results. 

“Oh. My. God” said Ann.

“Is...is this for real?” Ryuji asks.

Ann was 43rd in their class, and Ryuji just barely made it above the average at rank 53.

They both squeal in excitement.

“Congratulations, looks like you both passed” Kevin says to the two of them.

Ann and Ryuji both turn their heads towards Kevin, their eyes gleaming and a smile on both their faces.

“D-don’t worry, I didn’t forget my promise.” Kevin lets out a nervous laugh, feeling the pain in his wallet. “So how’d you do, Akira?”

Akira points at the top of the page, and sure enough he was top of the class.

“For real?! What the hell man, when’d you get so smart?” Ryuji says looking at his friend.

“But wait, if Akira’s first, then what rank is Kevin?” Ann asks.

They all scan the list and find Kevin’s name down at 5th.

“Ouch, 5th, huh? Congratulations on getting top of the class, Akira” Kevin nonchalantly says.

Suddenly, Ann and Ryuji were hit with a pang of guilt.

“D-dude, I’m so sorry!” said Ryuji

“Yeah, sorry your grades dropped because of us” said Ann.

Kevin just shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, 5th isn’t too much different from 1st! Besides, if it helped raise your grades, then it was worth it!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, Kevin texts Ryuji about the movies.

**Kevin:** Hey Ryuji, looks like they stopped airing Cake Knight Rises. Would you be fine with Crying Love At The Bottom of Society instead?

**Ryuji:** Isn’t that a chick flick? I’m dunno, feels weird for two dudes to be watching that together…

**Ryuji:** Also, you don’t have to do this. It was kinda my fault your grades went down. I can’t let you buy my ticket either.

**Kevin:** Don’t worry about it! I did make a promise after all. So would tomorrow afternoon work for you?

**Ryuji:** Yeah, sure. That sounds good. Thanks.

After getting the confirmation from Ryuji, Kevin went ahead and bought two tickets for tomorrow. He then proceeds to take out his phone and texts Akira.

**Kevin:** Hey Akira, are you busy tomorrow?

**Akira:** No, I’m free. Did you need something?

**Kevin:** I promised Ryuji to the movie tomorrow, but something came up so I won’t be able to make it!

**Kevin:** I even bought the tickets and everything. Would you mind taking him with you instead? I don’t want this ticket to go to waste, and Ryuji will probably be lonely going to the theater alone…

It technically wasn’t a lie, he did promise Ann he would go to the buffet with her tomorrow. 

Akira paused before replying.

**Akira:** Sure, I’ll go to the movies with Ryuji.

**Kevin:** Thanks! I’ll go give you the tickets at school tomorrow. Just meet Ryuji at the theater in Shibuya after school.

Kevin smiled as he put away his phone, hoping Akira would at least get some progress with Ryuji. After all, they were watching a romance movie. How many things in the world scream “date” louder than watching a romance movie together?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once school ends, Kevin immediately darts out of the classroom telling Ryuji to go on ahead to the theater. He quickly hands Akira his tickets and steals Morgana from him, stuffing him in his bag. Morgana refused at first, but when he heard that they were going to a buffet with Lady Ann, he quickly changed his mind. Akira takes a look at the tickets and realizes it’s for a romance movie instead of Cake Knight Rises like they had promised back during the study session. He immediately regret agreeing to Kevin’s request, but he couldn’t refuse now and leave Ryuji waiting.

Akira heads over to the theater and sees Ryuji standing in front of the theater.

“Yo, Akira! What are you doing here?”

“Kevin said something came up, so he gave me his tickets asked me to watch the movie with you” said Akira.

“For real? Man, what awful timing” Ryuji says, a bit disappointed. He suddenly remembers that Kevin chose a romance movie since Cake Knight Rises stopped airing. “W-wait, the tickets are for Crying Love at the Bottom of Society, right? I can’t force you to watch something this with me. L-let’s just pretend we saw the movie, okay?”

“No, we can’t just let the tickets go to waste. Besides, I’m sure it’ll be fun” Akira says to Ryuji.

“If you’re cool with it, then I guess it’s fine” Ryuji responds. “Just two bros and their talking cat watching a romance movie.”

“Actually, Morgana is with Kevin right now, so it’s just us two.”

Ryuji seems even more surprised. He was going to watch a romance movie. Alone. With his best friend. Totally not awkward at all.

The two of them go inside and get seated in the center, sharing a giant tub of popcorn.

Ryuji ended up enjoying the movie a lot more than he expected. He was completely engrossed in the movie and mindlessly stuffing his mouth with popcorn.

Akira was also enjoying the movie, although he would steal a few glances of Ryuji every now and then, still not believing the situation he was in.

Akira goes ahead and reaches in the tub of popcorn as well, only to have Ryuji grab onto his hand on accident. “Whoops, sorry dude” Ryuji whispers to Akira. Akira quickly retracts his hand, embarrassed that that actually happened. Ryuji ended up eating the entire tub of popcorn all by himself.

Once the movie ended, Akira walks Ryuji to his home, the two talking about the movie along the way. When they reach Ryuji’s apartment, they both stop.

Ryuji turns towards Akira. “Hey, Akira?”

Akira looks over at Ryuji. “Yes?”

Ryuji looks away and scratches his head. “I just wanted to say...thanks. It was probably weird watching that with another guy, but I’m glad you did. It was a lot of fun.” 

Akira shakes his head. “It wasn’t weird at all! I enjoyed it as well.” Suddenly Akira puts a smirk on his face. “If you want, we can always watch another romance movie again.”

Ryuji just laughs. “Sure, anytime, buddy! Just as long as the cat’s not there.”

Ryuji waves Akira goodbye and goes inside. Akira heads back to Leblanc where Morgana was waiting for him so he could tell him to go to bed.


	11. Money Problems (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alibaba bails out.
> 
> Ryuji gets robbed.
> 
> Kevin goes to Mementos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally for this story I had an idea planned involving a parallel universe (which is supposed to explain Kevin's ability to channel his Persona in the real world earlier on in the story). I later came up with an even better idea, but it required a bit of retconning, so I changed a few details. 
> 
> Biggest change was Chapter 5, I made it so Kevin just runs to the roof and stops Shiho from killing herself instead of him jumping off the second floor.
> 
> Beyond that, I just tried to get rid of any references to him having the ability to move like he can in the metaverse in the real world. Hoping I got all of them, but if not, hopefully this message clears things up.

Medjed has declared war against the Phantom Thieves! Meanwhile, their only person who could possibly help out with their situation, a mysterious hacker named Alibaba, suddenly decided to cancel their deal. Everyone looked worried. After all, an entire hacker organisation told the entire country they’d destroy the country’s economy! And it’ll be all their faults if it happens.

Ryuji on the other hand, seemed just as carefree as always. “I’m sure they just backed out because they’re afraid we’ll change their hearts.”

Nobody seemed convinced by Ryuji’s statement. They’re an anonymous hacker organization, why would they suddenly get cold feet?

“Anyways, remember that treasure we got from Kaneshiro’s palace? Prepare to have your minds blown!” Ryuji suddenly takes out a giant stack of cash from his pocket. “We got two hundred thousand yen out of it!”

Everyone stared in amazement at the sum of money. Makoto quickly broke the silence after a moment of realization. “Ryuji, don’t just take out something like that! What if someone sees? Put it back in your pocket!”

Kevin is the next to react. “Why did you even bring that much money with you? What if someone robs you?”

Ryuji puts the money back in his pocket. “I couldn’t help it, I had to meet up with the guy after school to sell it. I didn’t have time to go back home before I came here. Relax, you guys worry too much!”

The group disbanded after that, agreeing to go eat sushi the next day. Unfortunately for them, there was going to be a slight problem in their plans.

Ryuji and Kevin started heading home. Suddenly, Kevin stops in front of the grocery store. “I need to go buy some groceries first. You go on ahead without me.”

“I can help you with that if you’d like” Ryuji replied.

“Thanks, but I’d rather you not walk around with you know what in your pocket. You go home first. And try to stay on the main streets instead of taking shortcuts in the alleyway.”

Ryuji reluctantly agreed and started heading home. Being the bad boy that he is, Ryuji decided to walk through the alleyways. After all, he’s gone through them every other day. What could possibly be different about today?

Walking pretty far into the alley, Ryuji suddenly stops. A man was standing there blocking the way. “Move it, you’re blocking the way!”

The guy just smiled and pushed Ryuji back. Ryuji turns around and is face with two more guys blocking the way.

“This here’s the one?” One of the men asked.

“That’s right, this brat just pulled out a giant wad of cash from his pocket!”

That’s when Ryuji realized he effed up. He should have taken Kevin’s advice and stayed on the main road. He shouldn’t have taken out the money back at the hideout. Why was he such an idiot?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, the sun had started to set. Kevin went a bit overboard with the groceries. He started regretting sending Ryuji home first, but he thought it’d be best for Ryuji not to walk around carrying that much money.

He started walking home, when he suddenly saw a familiar figure wearing a red shirt and plaid pants, limping while holding his sides. “Ryuji?”

Ryuji stopped moving and turned around. Kevin dropped the groceries he was carrying and quickly ran over to Ryuji. “What the hell happened?!”

Ryuji looked like he was on the verge of tears. “I’m...I’m sorry… I should have listened to you… I was an idiot.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The money...I lost it…” Ryuji said as he covered his eyes with his arm, trying to hide the tears.

Kevin’s heart dropped when he heard that. He shouldn’t have sent Ryuji home alone like that. “L-let’s just go home for now, we can talk about this later!”

The two of them slowly made their way back to Ryuji’s apartment. Kevin got the first aid kit and started disinfecting Ryuji’s wounds while he just sat there silently, occasionally wincing at the pain.

After a while, Ryuji finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry… I let everyone down again. I’m just a huge failure!”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it” Kevin tells his injured friend.

“It’s not fine!” Ryuji starts yelling, startling Kevin. “Everyone was looking forward to the sushi party, and I had to go and eff it all up! If I hadn’t taken out the money back at the hideout, those guys wouldn’t have come after me! What am I going to say to everyone?” Ryuji starts crying again at this point.

“Listen, it’s fine. All that matters is that you made it out alive.” Kevin sighs and then looks away from Ryuji. “Besides, I shouldn’t have let you go home alone either. If I had stayed with you, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this. I’m sorry.”

Suddenly both their phones sounded. Looks like everyone was talking about the sushi party tomorrow. What awful timing. Ryuji takes a look at his phone and starts shaking. “I’m scared… Everyone’s going to hate me now!”

Kevin looks at Ryuji, feeling terrible about the state he’s in. He then starts typing in his phone.

**Kevin:** Sorry guys, can we move our sushi date back a few days?

**Kevin:** Some friends came to in Japan on tour and asked me to join them. Said they needed a translator.

**Ann:** That’s nice of you! Have fun with your friends!

**Makoto:** Yes, you enjoy your time. I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to do.

**Akira:** Morgana said “We should just ditch Kevin and eat more sushi.”

**Akira:** Morgana said “Don’t type that!”

**Ann:** Morgana...

Ryuji just looks at Kevin confused. “Why are you pushing back the date?”

Kevin gets up from the ground. “You said it was two hundred thousand yen, right? I’ll get it back, don’t worry.”

Ryuji suddenly widens his eyes. “How are you going to do that?”

Kevin just smiles back at him. “I have my methods. You’ll see.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Akira and Morgana travel to Shibuya to check out the weapons at the Untouchable. Unfortunately nothing catches his eye, so he starts heading back to the station.

Morgana just sighs. “And to think we could be enjoying some nice sushi right about now.”

Akira reaches over and pets Morgana. “It can’t be helped, Kevin’s meeting up with friends he probably hasn’t seen in months. We should give him time to catch up.”

Morgana just keeps whining until he suddenly sees a familiar face. “Hey, isn’t that Kevin over there by the station?”

Akira looks over and sure enough, he sees Kevin walking towards the station, looking around as if he’s trying not to get caught. They then notice Kevin take out his phone and disappear into thin air.

“What? Did he just go into Mementos? But I thought he said he was meeting a friend?!” Morgana exclaims. “Did he lie to us?”

Akira walks over to the station and pulls out his phone as well. “Guess we’re about to find out.” 

The two of them appear outside Mementos and head inside, quietly as to not get caught. There they see Mage jump onto the tracks, walking around the tracks on foot. They take notice that Mage’s stance was a bit weird.

“Is he scared fighting alone? Normally Mage looks so confident when he’s fighting.”

They continue following Mage as he wanders around, fighting shadows along the way, for some reason moving at a very slow pace as well. Was he trying to conserve his energy?

“What’s he doing? At this rate the Reaper will show up before he finds the exit!” Mona whispers over to Joker.

As if on cue, the sound of chains start echoing throughout the floor.

“There it is! We gotta find the exit, quick!”

They notice that Mage seemed to be panicking.

“What’s that idiot doing? He’s going to get caught if he doesn’t move!”

Suddenly the Reaper shows up in front of Mage.

“This is bad! Joker, we have to save him!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nighttime rolls around. Ryuji had been lying in bed the entire day sulking. He decided it was finally time to get some fresh air. Plus he was starving since he hadn’t eaten anything all day. He walks out the door and sees Kevin walking towards him.

“Kevin? Dude, where did you go? I texted you like 20 times today!”

Kevin looks surprised and takes out his phone. “Oh, sorry. I guess I missed them.”

Ryuji notices some cuts and scrapes on Kevin’s arm. Kevin apologizes and goes to open his door. “Wait!” Hearing Ryuji’s voice, Kevin stops in his tracks and looks at him. “You were in Mementos, weren’t you?”

Kevin looks away. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Are you going back tomorrow?” Ryuji asked his foreign friend. Kevin just nods back at him. “Tomorrow, take me with you.”

Kevin knew this was coming. Of course Ryuji would want to go. “I can’t, you’re injured. It’d be too dangerous for you to go there.”

Ryuji slams his door shut. “I can’t let you do this alone, either! I was the one who caused all this, I should be the one to fix it!” He walks over to Kevin. “Either you take me with you, or I’ll go by myself!”

Kevin sighs and reluctantly agrees. He’d rather not have Ryuji join while he’s injured, but knowing him he’d definitely try to go alone if he said no.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the boys both walk over to the station, preparing themselves to jump into Mementos. Right when Kevin was about to activate the metanav, the two of them suddenly hear a voice.

“What are you two doing here?” It was Morgana, with Akira standing right next to him. “I thought you said you were visiting friends, Kevin. Why are you here, and why is Ryuji with you?”

Kevin lets out a nervous laugh while Ryuji averts his eyes.

“Well, you see…” Kevin started.

“...It’s my fault” Ryuji said. Kevin takes a step back in shock when he hears that. “I lost the money we got from the treasure, so Kevin’s helping me make it up.”

Morgana looks shocked to hear that. “What?! M...my precious fatty tuna…” He droops his ears.

“I see, so that’s why you lied to us.” Akira seemed to be very understanding of the situation. Morgana on the other hand...not so much.

“Ryuji, how could you lose all that money? What were you thinking?!” Morgana complained.

Ryuji just clenched his fists. He didn’t have any excuses.

Akira and Kevin both looked visibly angry at that remark. “Morgana, now’s not the time for that.” Kevin said to the cat.

Morgana seemed upset to get scolded. “But…”

“No buts. Otherwise you get to stay home while the rest of us enjoy our sushi.” Akira was definitely not happy with Morgana.

Morgana just drooped his ears as the four of them entered Mementos.

Mona went ahead and transformed into a bus and started their descent into Mementos. He was driving a lot slower than usual. Probably had something to do with Akira and Kevin both ganging up on him earlier.

“Um, Mona. Shouldn’t you drive a bit faster? We wouldn’t want to encounter the reaper or anything, right?” Mage said to him, sounding a bit concerned for their safety.

Mona just quietly responded with a “sorry” before picking up the speed. Skull meanwhile seemed to be deep in thought.

“Is there something wrong, Skull? You’ve been quiet this whole time” asked Mage.

Skull turned his head towards the window. “The Reaper is supposed to be some really strong shadow, right?”

“That’s right, which is why we can’t stay too long on a floor” Mona responded.

Skull paused for a bit before talking again. “That means if we defeat the Reaper, we’d get a lot of money, right?”

Mona just continues driving, seemingly unfazed by his comment. “Don’t even think about it, Skull. There’s no way we can defeat the Reaper. We’d just be throwing away our lives.”

“But you’ve never fought a Reaper before, have you?” Skull suddenly raised his voice, surprising Mona.

“W-well… No, I haven’t.”

“Then how do you know it’s so strong?” Skull was getting more aggressive with the questioning.

“B-because! I just know!” Mona didn’t sound very convincing. Then again, he’s never really been sure of anything to this point.

“How can we trust you? You’ve never been sure of anything before! Plus, you didn’t know about things like Joker carrying millions of Personas! Maybe the Reaper isn’t actually all that strong!”

Joker finally cut in at this point. “Skull, calm down. Mona’s been right more times than he’s been wrong so far. We should trust him.”

“But-” Skull started.

Mage suddenly interrupts Skull. “I fought the Reaper yesterday.”

Skull was taken aback. “For real?! What happened?”

Mage paused before answering. “I lost. The Reaper was too strong, so I just ran as fast as I could until I found the exit. I couldn’t do anything at all and just barely got away with my life.” He looks outside the window. “Even if all four of us work together, I doubt we’ll be able to do anything to it.

“I-I see...sorry about that, Mona… I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that...” Skull sounded defeated.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry about earlier as well.” The two of them made up. It was a touching moment, a boy and his friend’s talking cat that can turn into a bus with a warm, room temperature interior that felt oddly cozy. 


	12. Money Problems (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys are rich.
> 
> Ryuji's not happy.
> 
> A familiar face appears.

For the next two days, the four of them continued exploring Mementos, taking down shadows and forcing them to exchange their lives for money. On day five, Akira went to the Untouchable and sold all the treasures that they found. When he was done, they went ahead and counted all the money they got.

“One hundred fifty thousand, huh? We’re really close, we just need another day or two” Kevin said, beaming a smile to the group. Akira gives a thumbs up for approval while Morgana just drools over the thought of finally being able to eat sushi. Ryuji on the other hand, wasn’t so happy.

“You guys go ahead and enjoy your sushi with everyone else. I’ll just go get some ramen” Ryuji says to the group.

Everyone looks at him surprised. “What are you talking about, Ryuji? We’re not going without you” said Kevin.

Ryuji clenches his fists and looks away. “I can’t trouble you guys anymore than I already have! It was all my fault to begin with. Just...tell everyone that I spent 50,000 yen at the arcade or something!”

Akira puts his hand on Ryuji’s shoulder and calls his name. Ryuji just slaps his hand away.

Ryuji starts walking home with the rest of the group following behind him. He goes ahead and taking shortcuts through the alleys as he always does. He gets stopped by a guy in the middle of the alley. “Move, you’re in the way!” Suddenly, he sees the guy’s face and comes to a realization. “Wait, you’re that guy from before!”

“Oh ho, why if it isn’t the same little brat as last time. And I see you brought some friends with you.”

This was bad, the three of them were surrounded!

“W-what do you want?” Ryuji stammered, getting flashbacks to the day he was mugged.

The person who was presumably the leader of the bunch pointed at Kevin. “The money in that kid’s bag. Give it to us.”

They knew about the money? When did they see it? This was a repeat of the previous incident now! “And what if we refuse?” Kevin asked.

“Then we’ll have to take it by force!”

One of the punks starts walking towards Kevin. Kevin turns around the face the guy and lets out a sigh. The guy didn’t seem to take that very well. “Cocky little brat, aren’t you? We’ll see how cocky you are after this!”

The guy sends a punch straight for Kevin. Kevin steps to the side and kicks the guy’s leg, causing him to fall. He then plants his foot straight into the back of the guy’s head, keeping him stuck to the ground. The punk’s friend immediately starts charging towards Kevin, although Akira stuck his leg out and tripped the guy, causing him to crash face first into the wall. 

The leader of the group realizes that he won’t be able to do anything, so he quickly puts Ryuji in a choke hold and puts a knife up to his face. “If you don’t want anything to happen to your friend here, then give me the money.”

“Ryuji!” Akira shouted, fearing for the safety of his friend.

Ryuji was struggling to get out of the man’s grip. “Don’t do it! Just get out of here!”

The man puts his knife closer to Ryuji’s face. “Hey now, is it really a good idea to be doing that? You won’t just be going home with scrapes and bruises like last time.”

Kevin opens up his bag and grabs out a stack of cash. “This is what you want, right? Now let my friend go!”

Ryuji starts struggling harder. “Kevin, what are you doing? Don’t give it to him! I’m not worth it!”

The man just continues standing there, not moving an inch. “Give me the money first and then I’ll let your friend go.”

Kevin clicks his tongue. “Fine, we’ll trade at the same time. Deal?”

Kevin starts walking towards the man. He can see his eyes shining with greed as he gets closer and closer. As soon as the man reaches out his hand holding the knife, Kevin throws the money in the air, scattering it everywhere and grabbing the man’s knife hand. 

The man starts struggling and lashes out at Kevin. “Y-you bastard!”

Ryuji meanwhile gets out of the man’s grip and runs towards Akira.

Once Kevin sees that Ryuji’s safe, he lets go and grabs Ryuji before running away, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid like trying to grab the money.

The three men all start scrambling to collect the money as quickly as possible.

The boys all finally run a safe distance away, reaching Ryuji’s apartment.

Ryuji clenches his fists and looks away. “I did it again… I’m sorry… “ Ryuji looks like he’s about to start crying again.

Kevin calls out. “Ryuji.”

“Because of me, we lost all the money we just made to those bastards again!” Ryuji covers his eyes with his arm.

“Ryuji!”

“I’m...I’m so sorry. Just… just please leave me alone for now.” Ryuji crouched down, burying his face into his arms.

Kevin opens up his bag and grabs out a stack of cash and puts it in front of Ryuji’s face. “Ryuji.”

Ryuji looks up and stares wide-eyed. “Wha- For real?! But how?!” 

Kevin proceeds to take out another stack of cash from his bag. “Remember this?”

“Ah! That’s the fake money from Kaneshiro’s case!” Morgana yelled out.

“That’s right. Came in handy, huh?” Kevin said, waving the stack of fake money in the air.

Ryuji can’t help but laugh at the whole situation. He wipes away a tear from his face. “I’m glad. You guys can go enjoy your sushi now.”

“What are you talking about? You’re coming with us” said Kevin.

“I can’t. I almost lost the money a second time. Plus we’re still down 50,000 yen, I don’t want to ruin you guys’ time because of it.” Ryuji says as he sighs.

“Don’t worry, we have enough now.” Kevin says as he pulls out a wad of cash from his pocket.

“What? For real?! Where’d you get that?!” Ryuji asked.

“I stole it from that guy with the knife. Looks like he didn’t spend much of the money yet, there’s 150,000 yen in here still.” Kevin said as he counted how much money was in his hands. He then proceeded to take out two wallets from his pocket. “I also stole two of their wallets as well.”

Akira grabs a wallet from his pocket as well and threw it in Kevin’s direction. “I grabbed the other guy’s wallet.”

“Great! So we have all three of their IDs. We can go to Mementos later and change their hearts, although we’d probably have to keep it a secret. Their shadows might recognize us like how Mishima’s did. Looks like we also got around 50,000 yen in here to make up the rest they stole from us.”

Ryuji stares at Kevin, his jaw open wide. “Wait, so the 150,000 yen from before, plus the 150,000 we got back, and now plus the 50,000 from those guys’ wallets. That makes…”

Morgana’s eyes light up. “350,000 yen! Think of all the sushi we can get with that!”

Kevin smiles at the group. “Exactly. I think everyone deserves a treat for all their hard work. We could order some really nice sushi for everyone with this kind of money.”

Ryuji and Kevin started walking back home while Akira and Morgana headed for the station. During the trip, Akira had a serious look on his face.

“What’s wrong, Joker? Is it about Kevin?” Morgana asked.

Akira puts his hands in his pockets. “Yeah.”

_ “This is bad! Joker, we have to save him!” Mona shouted at his leader. _

_ Joker grabs a hold of Mona to hold him back. “Hold on.” _

_ Suddenly Mage’s stance changes, dropping his arms to his sides. The Reaper aims his gun straight at Mage. _

_ “Joker, what are you doing? At this rate, Mage will-” _

_ Suddenly the Reaper shoots a bullet straight at where Mage was standing. Mage sidesteps and dodges the attack. He suddenly starts smiling. “Is that it? Come on, Reaper, you can do better than that!” _

_ The Reaper seemed annoyed at that comment as he suddenly started throwing powerful spells left and right. Mage proceeds to dodge all of them and appears behind the Reaper before launching an Agilao of his own. _

Akira shudders as he recalls the events from the first day. “Even though Kevin didn’t win against the Reaper, he didn’t take a single hit and managed to get a lot of spells in before he tired out and escaped. That did not look like the fight of an amateur. Where did he learn to fight like that? And why doesn’t he show that kind of strength during palaces?”

“He hasn’t betrayed us yet, so I think we can trust him. Everyone has their secrets after all.” Morgana starts licking his paw.  “Or are you just jealous that he’s getting close to your boyfriend?”

Akira blushes. “I’m not jealous.”

“But you don’t deny he’s your boyfriend? Although I do wonder what you see in that idiot.”

Akira starts heading towards the station again. “I’m leaving you home tomorrow.”

Morgana starts freaking out. “W-what?! I’m sorry for calling him an idiot! Please don’t leave me home! I need my fatty tuna!”


	13. Sushi Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thieves get sushi.
> 
> Makoto's afraid of thunder.
> 
> Sojiro confesses.

Makoto, Ann, and Yusuke all arrived at the sushi shop in Ginza together. When they went inside, they were surprised to see that the others had reserved one of the rooms in the back.

“I must say, these rooms are quite nice. While I do wish we could have partaken in the revolving sushi belt, this room has a very traditional feel to it” Yusuke said as he put his hands up pretending to take pictures.

“It wouldn’t be fair for us to be the only ones eating, so this was the only way to let Morgana join us” Kevin said as he was patting Morgana’s head.

“And to think Akira wanted to leave me at home, too. How cruel!” Morgana said as he recalled yesterday’s events.

“Why would Akira leave you home? Did you two have a fight or something?” Makoto asked.

“It was nothing.” Akira glared at Morgana after he said that.

The waitress suddenly appeared, bringing in six wooden plates with some very expensive looking sushi. Morgana’s eyes immediately lit up. He was practically ready to pounce onto the table before Kevin grabbed a piece of fatty tuna for him.

“Fatty tuna? And sea urchin? Salmon roe as well? Hold on, can we really afford all this? There’s no way all this costs 200,000 yen!” Makoto said, very worried about the cost of all the sushi on their plates.

Ryuji froze for a second. He expected this would come up, and he braced himself to tell the group what happened. “Well, you see…”

“You won’t believe what happened!” Kevin interrupted Ryuji knowing he’d have a hard time explaining what happened. “The guy Ryuji sold the case to was actually a scam artist. He ripped off Ryuji knowing he wouldn’t be able to tell how much the case was worth. Akira helped him find the guy’s name, so they went down to Mementos and changed his heart. The guy ended up apologizing to Ryuji and gave him another 150,000 yen!”

Yusuke choked on some ginger when he heard that. “So that gaudy briefcase sold for 350,000 yen?! How many art supplies could I buy with that kind of money?!”

“A-amazing! But why didn’t you tell us? We could’ve gone down and taken care of that guy together” Makoto said, feeling left out. “Also, stop eating so much ginger, Yusuke!”

Ryuji let out a nervous laugh. “Well, we uh, we didn’t want to bother you guys since it was kinda my own problem and all. So yeah…” This was the second time Kevin bailed Ryuji out of a tight spot. Seriously, how can he just make up lies like that with such a straight face?

They all started eating, everyone trying their best to eat slowly and savor every last bite. After all, who knows when, if ever, they’d get to eat something as extravagant like this again! Suddenly, Ann notices Akira acting a bit strange. “Is something wrong, Akira?”

“It...it’s nothing, just…”

“Someone came over to the cafe last week” Morgana chimed in. “She started threatening boss with legal action.”

“What? What happened?” Makoto looked worried. She had a gut feeling she knew who they were talking about.

Akira sighed. He didn’t want to bring it up because everyone was enjoying their sushi, but at this point he couldn’t stop. “She wanted boss to tell her everything about someone’s research. I believe the name was Wakaba Isshiki. Also, she said that if he didn’t, she’ll be taking him to court for child abuse.”

Everyone hears the sound of something snapping and look in Kevin’s direction. The chopsticks he was holding were broken in half. “Sorry, I guess I don’t even know my own strength” he said as he let out a nervous laugh.

“Child abuse… Boss doesn’t seem like that kind of person, though. Is he really abusing Futaba?” Makoto asked.

Akira shakes his head. “No… At least, I don’t want to believe he is.” There is a heavy silence in the room. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have even brought this up. Let’s just enjoy the rest of this sushi!”

While everyone resumed eating, Kevin took out his phone and quickly punched in Sojiro’s name into the Metanav.  _ “No match found.” _

“Did you just look up Boss’s name?” Ann asked.

“Yeah, looks like there’s no hit. Not for a palace nor Mementos. Hopefully this means the child abuse allegations are fake.” Kevin put his phone away. “Sorry for ruining the mood as well, I just had to make sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The thieves finished eating the rest of their sushi and even brought some more sushi to-go. The group of six and their talking cat arrived in front of Sojiro’s house. They couldn’t just leave the allegations alone and decided to check up on Boss. Seems like Boss left the front gate open. And the door as well. They also heard the sound of a TV running. What if Boss fainted while watching TV?

It suddenly started raining, so they all quickly ran inside to take shelter. Soon after they entered, the lights went out and they all heard a scream. Makoto and Ryuji were both scared out of their wits.

“S-sorry. Do you mind if I hold onto you?” Makoto said as he grabbed onto Kevin’s arm.

“M-me too, dude” Ryuji stammered as he clung onto Akira’s arm. Akira wasn’t sure how to process this. On the one hand his heart was ready to jump out because Ryuji was so close to him. On the other hand, Ryuji was also hyperventilating. It didn’t seem like he had some normal fear of thunder.

Ann and Yusuke continued onwards while Akira, Ryuji, Makoto, and Kevin all slowly followed them. After lightning struck again, Makoto turned her head to see another person standing right behind her.

A loud boom of thunder sounded, and the three of them, Makoto, Ryuji, and the mysterious figure, all screamed.

“Futaba!” Kevin yelled as he tried to follow her. Unfortunately Makoto was clinging onto his leg, so he couldn’t move.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry please save me, sis please save me, sis!” She kept repeating to herself.

Meanwhile, Ryuji was doing the same. He was clinging onto Akira’s leg with all his might, refusing to let go. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry. Please stop beating me, dad…” Akira felt his heart drop as he heard that. He should’ve expected Ryuji’s fear of thunder it had something to do with his dad.

The door was slammed open with Sojiro standing there. Sojiro grabbed a flashlight and shined it on the group. “You kids? What are you doing here?”

The group explained the situation to Sojiro. Well, at least everything they could without revealing their true goal. Sojiro sighed when they mentioned Futaba’s name and asked them all to go to the cafe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sojiro explained everything to the group. About how Futaba was Wakaba Isshiki’s daughter, how Wakaba committed suicide right in front of Futaba, how she blames herself for her mom’s death, and how he adopted Futaba afterwards. The group just listened as they heard Futaba’s story. They couldn’t imagine how much pain she must be in to blame herself for her mom’s death. After Sojiro was done, he left, telling Akira to close up shop once everyone else was gone.

“So Boss really wasn’t abusing Futaba after all. But still, what happened to her isn’t any better. I wish there was some way we could help” Makoto said.

“But can we even do anything? Does she even have a palace?” Ryuji asked.

Akira took out his phone while Ryuji said Futaba’s name.

_ “Candidate found.” _

“Whoa, so someone can have a palace even if they’re not evil?” Ann asked, surprised that there was actually a hit.

“But what about her distortion?” Kevin asked. No one knew the answer of course, and their guesses ended up being fruitless.

“We’ll have to ask her tomorrow. It’s getting late so we shoul-” Akira started before getting interrupted by someone’s phone ringing.

Ryuji took out his phone. “Sorry, my mom’s calling.”

“Hello? Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I’m hanging out at a friend’s house. What was that? Sorry, I can’t hear too well, there’s a lot of static. Okay mom, will do. Bye.” Ryuji put his phone away. “Sorry Akira, mind if I crash for the night? My mom says it’s probably safer than going home in this storm.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Hope you’re fine with the couch, though. Are you staying as well, Kevin? Kevin?” Kevin was sticking his head under the table.

“I think we can figure out the distortion right now.” Kevin said as he brought his head back up.

“How are you going to do that?” Makoto asked.

“Simple, we’ll just ask Futaba.”

The group seemed confused. “How the hell are we supposed to do that? Especially with Boss home, will he just let us go see Futaba?” Ryuji asked.

“We’ll ask her here. Hey Futaba, you’re listening, right? Answer me.”

“Uh, dude? Are you okay? How the hell can Futaba hear you?” Ryuji asked.

“Futaba, if you don’t answer I’ll tell everyone about how you cried when you wet your pants in 5th grade.”

Suddenly everyone’s phones sounded.

**Unknown:** How do you know about that?!

“I was just joking. But thanks to that we know your little secret~” Kevin teased.

**Unknown:** Why you!

The group was certainly surprised by that. “What? How can she hear what we’re saying? Is she psychic or something?” Ryuji asked.

“Futaba has the cafe bugged. Bugs tend to give phone calls static, so there was a chance that someone bugged the cafe. Plus, we’ve already established that Futaba is Alibaba, and that Alibaba was somehow able to determine we’re the Phantom Thieves. Put two and two together, and it led to this.” 

“Dude, you figured out all that just because of some static?” Ryuji asked, completely dumbfounded.

“Futaba, you’ve been listening in on us the whole time, correct? What do you see Boss’s house as?”

The group waited but no response.

“Futaba…” Kevin said impatiently.

Still no response.

“...Alibaba?”

**Unknown:** Yes?

“Alibaba, what do you see Boss’s house as?”

**Unknown:** A house is a house.

The group sighed. That was certainly a helpful response. “How does it feel living in Boss’s house?” Akira asked.

**Unknown:** It’s painful. This place is my tomb.

“Tomb?”

_ “Candidate found. Beginning navigation.” _

The thieves finally had their next target. Futaba Sakura. Sojiro Sakura’s house. Tomb.


	14. An Impulsive Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji and Akira sleep together.
> 
> Morgana reappears.
> 
> Someone is getting impatient.

“You sure you don’t need me to walk you back or something?” Kevin asked Ryuji, worried about his panic attack from earlier.

“It’s fine, I’ll just stay the night. It’s probably for the best.” 

“Alright, you two have fun then. Don’t stay up too late.”

The Phantom Thieves finally had their next target: Futaba Sakura. Keywords: Sojiro Sakura’s house, tomb. Because it’s late at night, they all decided to reconvene tomorrow. Ryuji decided to stay the night at Leblanc’s with Akira because he had a panic attack from the thunder earlier. In his current condition, his mom told him it’d be best if he didn’t try and go home lest he get a panic attack midway.

Akira grabs a blanket for Ryuji. “You sure you’re okay with the couch? I can let you have the bed if you want.”

Ryuji shakes his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m used to falling asleep on the couch.”

Akira laughs at Ryuji. “Falling asleep while watching television?”

“Nah, my dad kinda broke my bed one night and forced me to sleep on the couch.” Neither Akira nor Ryuji spoke for a solid minute before Ryuji finally breaks the silence. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. We should just get to bed. Good night, dude.”

“You want me to keep the lights on?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I can’t let the lights get in the way of you sleeping.”

Akira turned off the lights and tries to go to sleep. Suddenly he sees some lightning and prepares for the thunder to come. After the loud boom passes, he hears Ryuji’s breathing pick up. “Ryuji, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah. I’m- fine.” Ryuji said in between breaths. More lightning strikes, and Ryuji goes into an all-out panic attack. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…”

Akira quickly turns on the lights and goes over to Ryuji. “Ryuji!” He turns Ryuji over and sees him crying and shaking. “Ryuji, it’s me! Snap out of it!”

“Akira?” Ryuji’s breathing calms down. “I’m sorry, I woke you up, didn’t I?” Ryuji gets up from the couch. “Sorry, I’ll just go home. I’ll probably just keep you up all night.”

Akira couldn’t believe what his friend was saying. “Not like this you won’t! What will you do if you get a panic attack in the middle of the streets?”

Ryuji just looks at the ground. “But I can’t just keep you awake all night. It’s fine, I don’t get panic attacks in the light, I’ll just follow brighter streets.”

“Ryuji, you’re not allowed to go home tonight, got it?” Ryuji seemed defeated. There was no way to convince Akira to let him go. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Ryuji pulls his legs up to his chest and wraps the blanket around himself. “It’s nothing, it’s just… it was storming pretty bad the day before my mom finally left my piece of shit old man.”

“What happened to finally convince her?”

“... That day my old man… he came home really drunk. He had just gotten laid off work again and needed someone to take his anger out on. My mom was working late that day, so… naturally he took his anger out on me.” Ryuji clutched the sides of his arms. “I still remember. He… he came up to me and beat me up hard saying it’s my fault he can’t have a happy life. That I just kept eating away at his life. Eventually, I passed out and woke up in a hospital bed with my mom crying. Ever since, hearing thunder in the dark just reminds me of that day.”

Akira clenched his fists as he heard that. “I wish I’d met you earlier.”

Ryuji seemed confused. “Why’s that?”

“Because your dad would give me a valid reason to actually have a criminal record” Akira said as he looked at Ryuji with a completely deadpan expression.

“D-dude, don’t even joke about that! Besides, he’s gone from my life now. In a way I’m glad it happened because it was the last thing my mom needed to divorce that piece of shit’s ass.”

Some more thunder could be heard in the background, but Ryuji didn’t even flinch. “I guess you really aren’t afraid of thunder when it’s bright.”

Ryuji nods his head. “Hey, Akira. Mind if I ask something weird?”

“What is it?”

Ryuji grabs onto his legs and sinks further into the couch. “Can you rub my head? My mom used to do that all the time to help me sleep.”

Akira’s heart skipped a beat. Did Ryuji seriously just ask him to rub his head? “Sure, if you don’t mind.” Akira reached out slowly and put his hand on Ryuji’s head and starts stroking it. He’s surprised by how soft Ryuji’s hair felt. “Is that good?”

Ryuji nods his head. After a few minutes, Akira feels Ryuji slump over on his shoulder. He looks down and sees that Ryuji fell asleep. He resists the urge to kiss him right then and just keeps rubbing his head. Eventually he falls asleep as well with the two of them leaning on each other. Meanwhile, Morgana who’s been standing by the stairs the entire time just wonders when those two can just get together and make out already. He’s getting tired of seeing Akira so lovestruck with that oblivious idiot. Although he is glad that he at least he has the bed all to himself today and proceeds to turn off the lights before getting comfortable on Akira’s pillow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Akira wakes up to find a sleeping Ryuji and a giant drool stain both on his shoulder. He gets up and heads downstairs to brush his teeth, only to be greeted by all the Phantom Thief members already down in the cafe.

“Hey, Akira. You have a, uh… drool stain on your shoulder” Ann said, pointing to her shoulder.

It was way too early for Akira to be dealing with any of this right now. “Morgana was dreaming about fish or something.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Ann may be a horrible liar herself, but even she could tell Akira was lying. Akira looks over in Makoto’s direction and she immediately averts her eyes. Great, so now at least three of them knew by now. He looks over at Yusuke who was making a sketch of Ryuji sleeping on his shoulder. Make that four.

Kevin gets up from the table he was sitting at, looking annoyed. “Can we just get this meeting started already so we can head into Futaba’s palace?”

Everyone was a bit surprised at Kevin’s impatience. Normally Ryuji was the one who’d get all antsy wanting to get things done as soon as possible. Akira went ahead and woke up Ryuji so that they could get the meeting started.

Once Akira and Ryuji got dressed and brushed their teeth, they got the table out and prepared for the Phantom Thieves’ meeting. Their goal: to steal Futaba Sakura’s distorted heart and make her realize that she did not actually kill her mom.

The thieves walked over to Sojiro’s house and activated the Metanav, sending them in front of a pyramid in the middle of the desert. “Beautiful. This pyramid perfect conforms to the golden ratio.” Of course the first thing Yusuke would comment on is the shape of the pyramid.

Entering the palace, the thieves notice a lack of shadows. Also the lack of their phantom thief outfits as well. As they walk up the stairs, they encounter Futaba’s shadow. “Hey, is this…?” Ryuji asked.

Kevin walks closer to the shadow. “Futaba…”

Akira also walks up. “Futaba, we’ve come to steal your distorted desires like you asked. Can you please show us the way?”

Futaba’s shadow looks in Akira’s direction. “Try as you might, you cannot steal my treasure while my palace is in its current state.” Suddenly, Futaba’s shadow starts clutching her head and falls to her knees. At the same time, voices start resonating in the background calling Futaba a murderer.

“That’s right, I did it. I killed my mother.” Futaba’s shadow said as she floated in the air.

“That’s not true, Futaba! You didn’t kill your mom!” Kevin yelled out at her.

Futaba’s shadow disappeared. At the same time, they suddenly transformed into phantom thieves and a giant ball began rolling down towards everyone, prompting them to run back towards the bottom of the stairs. After the ball fell down into the dark abyss, the doors all shut. Mage started slamming his hands against the wall. “Futaba! Let us in!”

“Let it go, Mage. Our best option is to retreat for now” Mona said to the group.

Joker nodded in agreement, but Mage disagreed. “I’m not leaving until I open this door!” He took out his staff and put his hand to his mask. “Decimate them, Hades!” Mage shot an Agilao at the door, but it bounced off and almost hit Fox.

“Hey, be careful with that!” Fox yelled out, not wanting to get knocked down by a fire attack.

Mage ignored him and started shooting more spells. “Zionga! Garula! Psio! Freila! Bufula! Eiga! Megidola!” The rest of the team all moved around as they dodged the spells that bounced off the door.

“Mage, cut it out!” Mona yelled at his renegade teammate.

Mage is panting from casting so many spells at once. “Not yet.” He starts charging up another spell, this time more powerful.

“W-wait! You’re not trying to use Inferno, are you? Mage, you’re not ready for that spell yet!” Mona shouted.

Mage ignores Mona and keeps continues charging up his spell. This time Skull stands in front of Mage. “Okay buddy, that’s enough. We should just leave and come back tomorrow like Mona said.”

“Get out of the way, Skull!” Mage said threateningly.

“Look, I don’t get why you’re so upset, but we can still change Futaba’s heart. It’s not like we have to get it done today or anything.” Skull said as he put his hand on Mage’s shoulder

Mage slaps Skull’s hand away. “Shut up! It’s your fault we’re still here in the first place! If it wasn’t for you, we’d be done with Futaba’s palace!”

A heavy silence fills the air. Skull averted eyes, not denying the fact that they started the palace later because he went and lost all of the sushi money. “Mage, calm down!” Akira yelled out. “What’s wrong with you?”

Mage turned around to see his teammates all looking at him with a combination of worry, fear, and anger. He turned back to face Skull. “I-I’m sorry, Skull. That was uncalled for.”

“It’s fine.” Skull said, refusing to look Mage in the eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The thieves left Futaba’s palace and returned to Akira’s room where they held another meeting.

“First off, Kevin. Would you mind telling us why you were so adamant about breaking down the door?” Akira asked.

Kevin looked at the table, refusing to look anyone in the eyes. “Sorry, I just… I don’t want Futaba to suffer any more than she already has. It’s already bad enough that a girl like her has to live with the belief that she killed her mom.”

Makoto puts her hand on Kevin’s, acting like a parent trying to calm down her child. “Kevin, I get that you want to save Futaba, but we need you to listen to us. Going off on your own like that isn’t going to solve anything.”

Kevin sighs as he hears Makoto scolding him. “Yes, mom~”

“Good. Now then, would you also mind telling me what you meant earlier when you said it was all Ryuji’s fault?” Kevin knew someone was going to bring that up.

“N-nothing! I just thought that if Ryuji didn’t bother changing that scam artists heart, we could have started the palace another day or two earlier.” Kevin said as he laughed nervously. “Sorry, I was mad and just wanted to shift the blame on someone.”

Makoto didn’t seem to buy it, but she at least dropped the subject. Kevin notices that Akira’s been staring at him for a while. “Is there something on my face?”

Akira shakes his head. “It’s nothing. Just make sure you don’t lose your cool again, or else I’ll have to put you on standby for the rest of the palace. Got it?”

“Yes, sir~” Kevin lazily replied.

With that, the Phantom Thieves dispersed, preparing themselves to enter the palace again the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, something's up with Kevin! What secrets could he be hiding? Tune in to find out!
> 
> Since Mage is a black mage and all, of course he should have access to a lot of spells. Basically Mage just has every element except Bless, but no melee or gun skills. Also, I just imagine that when a Persona has a certain element, they can use every spell using that element even though that's not how it works in the game. The user just needs to be strong enough to handle it. So Kevin can cast a severe damage spell like Inferno, but doing so would probably have major repercussions on his body.


	15. Changing One's Cognition

“Mage, look out!” Mona yelled out right before Mage got knocked down by a Kouga.

“Mage, that shadow blocks Curse attacks! I thought I already warned you!”

“Mage, where are you aiming?!”

“Mage!”

The whole team took notice, but Mage was not performing like his usual self. He would constantly get hit instead of dodging attacks. He kept forgetting what elements each monster was strong or weak against. He even ended up tripping right in front of a shadow while the team tried to sneak past a heavily guarded area.

After opening the first door, the Phantom Thieves take a break in the safe room. There, the group changes up the party’s lineup.

“Panther, Fox, you two come to the frontlines. Skull, Mage, you two are staying in the reserve.” With the exception of Skull, everyone seemed to agree with Joker’s decision.

“What? I can keep going! Why am I staying in the back?”

“Because a lot of the shadows we’ve encountered here are strong against electricity. We’ll need Fox’s Bufu spells to get us through.” Skull didn’t want to accept it, but there wasn’t anything he could do. He just accepted his fate and went into the reserve together with Mage.

While the main party of Panther, Fox, Queen, and Joker stayed ahead and Mona sticking close by for navigation, Skull and Mage stayed a ways behind everyone.

“Man, this sucks! We’re basically the team’s two strongest members besides Joker, and here we are stuck in the back doing nothing!” Skull was still upset that Joker put him in the reserve. “Aren’t you upset at all about this?!”

Mage didn’t say anything. He seemed to be in a bit of a daze. “Hello? Earth to Mage?”

“Huh? What? Sorry, did you say something?”

“Dude, are you okay? You seem out of it.” It was one thing having the rest of the team notice that Mage was distracted. When even Skull notices, then something was clearly wrong. “You’re not still thinking about yesterday, are you? I already told you I forgive you.”

“No, it’s not that. I just… I just have a lot on my mind right now. That’s all.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Well…” Mage started, but was soon interrupted by Mona.

“Hey guys, come quick!”

Skull and Mage ran over to where the rest of the team was, and there they saw some sort of puzzle. Akira played around with the controls and rearranged the pieces of the picture. 

The voices of some adults started playing. They were reading a will from Futaba’s mom. The group was shocked by what they heard. According to the will, Futaba’s mom regret having Futaba and killed herself as a result. Did Futaba’s mom really say all that? Everything was so messed up. The thieves could do nothing but press forward, moving deeper and deeper into Futaba’s palace.

Soon the thieves were greeted by another puzzle. And another. Each time the memories seemed to get worse and worse. After the final puzzle, the group heard sobbing and turned around to see Mage clutching his staff and crying. A voice inside his head was screaming that there was no way Futaba’s mom could possibly say such horrible things. At least, he truly wanted to believe so.

“Mage, are you okay? Snap out of it!” Joker yelled at his teammate as he grabbed his shoulders.

Mage started calming his breathing. “S-sorry… “

Everyone was worried. Yesterday he was angry and lashed out at Skull, today he had a complete breakdown. “Are you sure you’re alright?” Queen asked as she crouched down next to Mage.

“Y-yeah, sorry. I just… I can’t stand this anymore. There’s no way any of this is true, is there?” Mage said.

Everyone wanted to believe so, but none of them had any proof. Finally, they reached the end of the palace and have to return to the real world to send Futaba her calling card.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the Phantom Thieves showed up in front of Futaba’s room to hand her the calling card.

“Futaba, please let us in” Makoto said as she knocked on Futaba’s door. She received no answer in response.

“Alibaba, we know you’re in there. Please open this door for us.”

Futaba texted them to have her mentally prepare herself. After a few minutes, she opened the door to let everyone in, except she was nowhere to be seen.

“Where could she be hiding?” Ryuji asked the group.

“Hey Ryuji, would you mind giving me the calling card?” Kevin asked.

“Huh? Oh, sure.” Ryuji handed over the calling card, confused about why Kevin wanted it.

After grabbing the calling card from Ryuji, Kevin walks over to the closet and knocks on it. “Futaba, we’re here. Can you please come out now?”

No response.

“I guess she’s not in there after all” Ryuji says as he fold his arms across his chest.

Kevin doesn’t give up, convinced that she has to be inside the closet. “Futaba, you didn’t kill your mom. We’re going to prove it to you by stealing your distorted desires. But we need you to come out of there first.” 

Still no response.

“Dude, she could be hiding under her bed or something as well. She’s probably not inside the closet.”

Kevin quickly slides the door open, revealing Futaba standing inside. The whole group is surprised that Kevin was so confident Futaba was inside despite her not making a sound. Futaba lets out a shriek before running to the other side of the closet and quickly slamming the door shut.

“Whoa, how’d you know she was in there?”

Kevin doesn’t answer and just slides the calling card through the side of the door. “Sorry Futaba, but that I had to do that so we can change your heart. Please make sure to read that.” Kevin looks over to Morgana. “This is good enough, right?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll make sure she reads the calling card” Morgana responded.

Kevin left Futaba’s room while everyone else filed out. Morgana rejoined the group later after making sure Futaba read the calling card.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the group re-entered the palace, Joker started picking out the party. “Skull, Fox, you two come to the frontline.”

“Alright!” Skull shouted.

“If you insist” Fox replied.

“As for the final member, Queen-” Joker started before he got interrupted.

“I’ll go” Mage said to the leader.

Joker considers it since he knows Mage is the strongest out of the entire team, but with his performance the previous day and his outburst the day before, he’s hesitant to add him. “Sorry, but I think it’s best if you sit this one out.”

Mage looks at the ground before staring straight into Joker’s eyes. “Please, I have to do this.”

Joker sighs. He doesn’t think he’ll be changing Mage’s mind anytime soon. “Fine, you can join. But if something happens, I’m switching you out.”

Mage agreed, and the team proceeded upwards towards the top of the pyramid. Once the group reached the top, they spotted a sarcophagus.

“This must be where the treasure is!” Mona said as his eyes lit up.

Right when the group was about to open the sarcophagus, the ground started shaking before a hole was broken through the roof. What appeared was a giant sphinx with the face of a woman screaming Futaba’s name!

“Everyone, stand back! Skull, Fox, Mage, prepare for combat! Mage?” Joker looked over in Mage’s direction. He was staring at the cognition of Wakaba, looking like he was on the brink of despair. “Mage!”

“Huh?” Mage suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Mage, get into position!” Joker yelled.

“R-right! Sorry!” Mage clutched his staff with both hands and quickly took his place next to Skull in the lineup preparing to fight.

The four persona users fought the cognition of Wakaba, shooting spells from far away. Mage’s magic proved helpful while Fox and Skull were soon replaced by Panther and Mona who kept up the offense. Once Wakaba started attacking flying high into the sky, the group started having trouble keeping up their attacks.

“It’s no use, I can’t predict when she’ll attack” Mona said, sounding defeated.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” The group turned around to see Futaba standing there.

“Futaba, what are you doing here? It’s too dangerous!” Mage yelled at her.

“B-but-” Futaba started clutching her head again, and everyone started hearing the voices from earlier.

Mage ran over to Futaba and started shaking her. “Futaba, listen to me! Those voices aren’t real! You didn’t kill your mom!”

Eventually Futaba snapped out of it. She seemed to have come to a realization of her own. The thieves watched as Futaba’s shadow suddenly floated above her and transformed into a UFO, grabbing her and taking her inside.

The group resumed their battle with Futaba’s cognition of Wakaba, this time with the help of Futaba and the ballista she hacked into her own cognition. Once Joker figured out that Wakaba was weak to melee attacks, the group was switched out with Skull, Fox, and Queen to quickly take down Wakaba.

With cognition Wakaba taken down, Futaba left and the palace started crumbling. The group quickly escaped and cursed the fact that palaces kept breaking down like that.

“You kids? What are you doing here?” Sojiro asked, bewildered to see Akira and his friends on the ground.

“Oh, we were just here to have some lunch! We could really go for some coffee and curry right now” Makoto said, bailing out the entire team.

Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana walked inside the cafe. Akira, Makoto and Kevin on the other hand all headed for Sojiro’s house to make sure Futaba was still okay. When they reached Sojiro’s house, they saw Futaba collapsed in front of the house.

“Futaba!” Akira and Makoto yelled out in unison. The two of them quickly ran over to her, worried for her sake.

“Akira, you know a doctor, right? Please call them! And Kevin, please help me carry her inside!” Makoto desperately said.

“Alright, alright, no need to panic” Kevin responded as he slowly picked up Futaba.

“What? How can you be so calm at a time like this? Futaba’s collapsed right in front of her house! What if it has something to do with her being inside her own palace?” Makoto was freaking out.

“Don’t worry, she’s fine. She just needs to sleep for a few days, that’s all.”

After Takemi came and gave Futaba a diagnosis, Makoto and Akira decided it was only right they went and told Sojiro about Futaba. When Sojiro came over, he let out a sigh. “I can’t believe it.”

“We’re very sorry this happened, Boss. Futaba must have gotten sick because of us” Makoto said.

“Hm? Oh, this? Don’t worry, she’s not sick. She’s just tired. She’ll be fine after she sleeps for a few days.”

Everyone is taken aback. Sleeping? And to think they were all worried about her!

“Anyways, we should let her rest. Let’s all go back to the cafe now, the curry is going to cool down.” Sojiro left, and the thieves filed out after him one after the other. When Kevin was about to walk out, Makoto and Akira stopped him.

“Hey Kevin, how did you know Futaba was okay?” Makoto asked.

Akira puts his hands in his pockets. “Not even Dr. Takemi could figure out what was wrong with her.”

“Hm? Oh, I have a friend who’s similar to Futaba. She gets tired so easily she’ll sometimes just collapse and fall asleep for days at a time” Kevin replied. “Futaba seems similar. After all, she’s lived as a shut-in for so long.” Kevin started heading out the door again. “Let’s head back already. Everyone’s probably enjoying Boss’s curry without us.”

“You’re right. Sorry for keeping you back.” Makoto left as well, leaving just Akira and Morgana alone with Futaba.

“Something bothering you, Joker?” Morgana asked.

Akira shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”

The two of them start heading back, but Akira can’t shake the feeling that Kevin was hiding yet another secret from the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens!
> 
> Also side note, I only just realized the other day how ironic it was that I gave Ryuji a fear of thunder while his element is lightning. I guess it could be like a source of trauma making him stronger or something.


	16. Rehab Beach Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I may have gone a bit overboard last night after I got some huge inspirations for the upcoming chapters, so I hope you're all excited for triple updates!

It’s nearing the end of summer now. The Medjed menace has been taken care of. Now it’s time for the Phantom Thieves’ next mission: rehabilitating Futaba in preparation for the beach trip! The thieves decide to split up into two groups with half of them helping Futaba one day and the other half helping her the next.

The first day, Akira, Yusuke, Makoto, Morgana, and Kevin all arrive in Futaba’s room to try and have her open up to them. Makoto started off by trying to make small talk with Futaba. It wasn’t very effective. She may be the charismatic student council president, but she certainly didn’t know how to deal with a shut-in like Futaba.

Meanwhile, Yusuke was messing around with Futaba’s figures. She certainly wasn’t going to be happy about that. Needless to say, she got mad at Yusuke. However, surprisingly it led to them having a long conversation about the toy models. It was amazing how well they got along.

“I see, so we just need to come up with something Futaba likes to get her to talk.” Makoto was happy about the revelation, thinking the knowledge would be useful in the future when she eventually joins the police force. Makoto looks over in Kevin’s direction. “Hey Kevin, you’ve been reading that book for a while now. What is it about?”

Futaba notices the book Kevin’s holding and quickly gets up from her chair after realizing what it is. “T-that’s-”

“Oh, this? It’s just B-” Kevin started before getting interrupted.

“Ahhhhhhh!” Futaba quickly grabs the book out of Kevin’s hands and throws it in her closet before she sits on the ground, hiding her face in her knees.

“Aw, I was just getting to the best part, too~” Kevin whined.

“Kevin, you really shouldn’t touch a girl’s belongings like that!” Makoto sternly said.

“Sorry, I just saw the cover and was too tempted.”

Makoto sighs. “Still, I’m curious what that book was about to make Futaba so worried.”

“It’s nothing! Just forget everything you saw!” Futaba was too embarrassed to look at everyone.

Makoto crouches down next to Futaba and pats her head. “Come on Futaba, no need to worry. We won’t judge you for some book.”

Futaba shakes her head. “No, you’re all going to think it’s disgusting and shun me like all those kids in my class!” Now the whole group was curious. What could possibly be so bad that it’d make her so sad?

“Don’t worry, Futaba, these guys won’t judge” Kevin said to her. “After all, these guys are all fine with Akira and his little crush~” Akira quickly elbowed Kevin who just laughed despite the pain.

Futaba sneaked a peek at the group. “R-really?”

“Yes, really.”

Futaba stood up with her hands behind her back.

“Are you okay now, Futaba?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine” Futaba replied.

“That’s good. Then do you mind if I finish reading that book?” Kevin asked.

“Kevin!” Makoto yelled at him for still thinking about the book after they just got Futaba to stop sulking.

“Um… sure. Just, promise me it won’t change your opinion of me!” Futaba said as she pulled the book out of her closet.

“Thanks!” Kevin said as he continued to read the book. The whole group was looking over his shoulder to see what he was reading.

“Well since we have Futaba’s permission now, what is wrong with this book that made Futaba freak out so much?” Makoto asked.

“Oh, it’s just BL. Nothing to be embarrassed about” Kevin nonchalantly replied. Futaba’s breath hitched as soon as he said that.

“BL? What’s that?” Makoto asked.

“BL is short for Boy’s Love. It’s basically romance between guys” Kevin responded without even looking up from the book he was holding.

Makoto was very surprised. “You mean there’s a whole genre for relationships between boys? I thought it was just considered normal romance like everything else.”

Yusuke was intrigued by the book as well. “I see, the forbidden love between two men. The art in this book leaves much to be desired, but I can see the beauty in such a relationship.”

Futaba pounts and starts yelling at Yusuke again. “Ah! Are you calling my book ugly? I’ll have you know this book is a true masterpiece! Both the artstyle and the story complement each other perfectly to create this work of art!” Futaba was really getting into it. She seemed really passionate about BL.

Akira looks over and sees a delinquent character with blonde hair. “What’s the story about?”

Futaba puffs out her chest and adjusts her glasses. “I’m glad you asked! It’s about this guy who gets kicked off the baseball team. Apparently everyone hated him because he was too talented. One day he breaks his wrist and is told he can’t play baseball anymore, so he dyes his hair and becomes a delinquent. One day he meets this transfer student who was rumored to have killed someone. The two become friends, and the delinquent starts developing feelings for the transfer student!”

Kevin chuckles. “That story sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it?”

Akira turns his head and wonders whether the universe was trying to toy with his emotions.

The day went by, so everyone returned to their homes. Kevin asked Futaba if he could borrow the manga he was reading, which she happily lent the entire volume.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day it was time for Team Ryuji and Ann to arrive at Leblanc together with Akira and Morgana. Futaba, Akira, and Morgana were waiting inside Leblanc waiting for their friends to arrive. Boss was out at the time, asking the two of them to watch the store for him. When they heard the bell sound, the three of them turned their heads to see Ryuji and Ann, as well as Kevin.

“Ah! Kevin’s here again!” Futaba yelled out, excited to see her BL buddy. “I thought you weren’t coming! What brings you here?”

“I wanted to return these to you” Kevin said as he gave her a bag with all the BL manga she lent him.

“Oh! You already finished all of them? What did you think? Tell me! Tell me!” Futaba said jumping up and down in excitement.

Ryuji hangs his head. “Come on, I’m still dying to know what that manga was about!”

“No way, I’m telling you you won’t like them” Kevin says trying to stifle a laugh.

“There’s no way you’d know that if you won’t even let me see what’s inside!” Ryuji complained. “Come on, Futaba! Can I please see what’s inside?”

Futaba is a bit reluctant, but gives him the first book. They all go upstairs to hang out. Ann starts talking about dresses while Futaba just tries to go along with the conversation the best she can. Meanwhile, Ryuji is busy reading the manga. Suddenly, he screams and throws the book in the air.

Futaba screams out “Ah! How dare you do that to my precious book!”

“B-but, they k-k-k-kissed!” Ryuji stammered, his face flush with embarrassment.

“That’s because it’s Boys’ Love. As in, romance between guys” Kevin told Ryuji, failing to contain his laughter.

“Come on, at least give a guy a warning about what he’s getting into!” Ryuji complained.

Kevin started laughing. “I did say you wouldn’t like it.”

Futaba seemed like she was mad at Ryuji, cradling her book in her arms while pouting. It started getting a bit late, so Kevin got up to leave. “I need to head back now, I still have to go grocery shopping before I get home.”

Ryuji gets up from his seat. “Oh right, let me help you with that.”

Futaba looked a bit surprised. “What? Buying groceries together?”

“We’re actually neighbors, so it’s just convenient buying groceries together” Kevin replied.

“That’s not all either. Kevin cooks dinner for Ryuji and his mom. He also wakes Ryuji up every morning for school.” Ann sighs. “Geez, you’ve only know each other for a few months and Kevin already sounds like a childhood friend from some cliche manga.”

“Come on, it’s not that weird, is it?” Ryuji asked.

Futaba taps on Ann’s shoulder. “Hey, are those two dating?”

“HUH?!” Ryuji yells out.

Kevin just starts laughing hysterically. “No no, we’re not dating.”

Kevin looks over at Akira and sees him glaring daggers at him. Looks like someone’s jealous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few days of hanging out with Futaba getting her comfortable with interacting with people, it was finally time for the Phantom Thieves to head for the beach!

When the girls came out of the changing room, Ryuji had probably the most perverted face imaginable. Kevin just let out a nervous laugh while Akira looked like his heart was about to break.

They find a spot on the beach and set up chairs and a parasol. Futaba seemed to be getting impatient. “Can we ride the banana boat already?”

“Banana boat? Sounds like fun” Ryuji said.

“Sorry, but we could only afford to rent a four person boat. So it’ll just be us girls and Kevin” Makoto said.

Kevin was surprised. “I’m coming along too? Is that really okay?”

Ann beams a smile at Kevin. “Of course! Since you’re a guy and you don’t like girls, we’ll feel much safer with you.”

“You sure you’re not just inviting me so that a guy can row the boat for you?” Kevin asked half-joking. All the girls turn their heads toward him with an evil smile on their faces. “For real?” Kevin asked as an imaginary sweatdrop emoji appeared over his head.

“Well you do seem like the most capable of the group” Ann said. “Plus, you’d help keep guys like Ryuji from hitting on us.”

Ryuji stomps his foot into the sand. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

The girls and their manservant went off the ride on the banana boats. Meanwhile, the rest of the guys were stuck watching everyone’s stuff. At Ryuji suggestion, the three decided to go hit on girls on the beach. And by hit on girls, it was really just Ryuji going around hitting on girls while Akira and Yusuke just followed him. At some point, Yusuke disappeared.

“I dunno… The ocean just looks kinda bland to me…” Ryuji said as he was sulking over getting rejected by every girl.

Akira just got depressed as his chances with Ryuji just seemed to be getting lower and lower. On the other hand, he was also glad no one actually returned Ryuji’s feelings. “Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s someone out there who likes you.”

Ryuji looks at him with his puppy dog eyes. “Really? You mean it?”

“Of course!” Akira said to his sad friend, putting a hand on his back. “In the meantime, you can have fun getting rejected by every girl you hit on.”

“What did you say?!” Ryuji said as he started chasing after Akira.

The two return to the group’s spot to find Makoto, Ann, and Morgana alone. “Just you two? What happened to the others?” Ryuji asked.

“Futaba wanted something to eat, so she went with Kevin. Where’s Yusuke?” Ann asked.

“I don’t know, he just disappeared a while ago” Ryuji responded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Futaba and Kevin are sitting on the beach, watching the sun slowly set. Futaba was eating some shaved ice Kevin bought for her earlier. “Futaba, if you don’t eat that quickly, it’s going to melt.”

“Sorry, I was just thinking about my mom. I wish she could be here” Futaba said.

Kevin looks sad and tries to cheer her up. “I’m sure she’s watching over you from heaven now.”

Futaba nodded in agreement. “You know, this is the second time I’ve been to the beach.” Futaba put her legs to her chest. “I still remember the first time I came here. It was with my mom and Sojiro.” Futaba lets out a chuckle. “I still remember Sojiro falling asleep while mom and I went to play in the water. When we came back, we buried his body in the sand. He complained afterwards that we got sand in his beard.”

Futaba lets out a sigh. “My mom looked so happy back then. But then I thought that I’ve never seen my mom so happy when we’re alone. I ran off to watch the sunset on my own while my mom was busy talking with Sojiro.” Futaba buries her face in her legs. “Even to this day, I still wonder if she was happy because she was with me, or if she was happy because Sojiro was there with us.” Futaba started crying.

Kevin puts his hand on Futaba’s head, a melancholy look on his face. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she loves you both.”

Futaba wipes a tear from her eyes and stops crying. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

_ “I’m sure your mom loves you both.” _

“Huh?”

“Is something wrong?” Kevin asked, looking confused.

“N-no, it’s nothing.” Futaba gets up from where she was sitting. “Come on, we need to get back to everyone else!”

When Futaba and Kevin returned to the group, they saw Yusuke holding two lobsters and Morgana staring at them.

“Oh, lobsters! One in each hand!” Futaba yelled as she ran up to Yusuke and tried to grab the lobsters out of his hands.

“We can make some sashimi out of those! Oh, or boil them!” Morgana said, his eyes lighting up in excitement.

Kevin laughed as Futaba continued trying to snatch the lobsters out of Yusuke’s hands while he kept protecting them like his life depended on it. “I’m sure I can find a good lobster recipe somewhere.”

“These lobsters are not for eating, you scoundrels!” Yusuke exclaimed.

After a long day at the beach, the Phantom Thieves and their two lobsters returned home. Everyone wondered what Yusuke planned to do with two lobsters. Especially when he had such a hard time feeding himself.


	17. What Happens In Hawaii Stays In Hawaii (1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next chapter are the two chapters I was most excited to write. The Hawaii trip just had so much potential for pegoryu scenes that I tried to stuff as many of them in as I could.

“Guys, where are Kevin and Ryuji?” Makoto asked, worried that their friends won’t make it in time.

“We’re here! Sorry we’re late!” Ryuji yelled as he and Kevin ran towards them panting.

“Wait, is that all you two are bringing?” Makoto asked as she noticed Kevin and Ryuji both carrying backpacks.

“Huh? Yeah, I mean we’re only going for a few days. What else would we possibly need to bring?” Ryuji asked.

“I expected as much from Ryuji, but you too, Kevin?”

“I didn’t want to bring an entire suitcase with me. It’s a bit annoying trying to stuff those in the overhead compartments” Kevin responded.

Makoto sighed but dropped the subject. It was too late for them to go back and pack more stuff anyways, so there was no point in dwelling on it.

Everyone got on the plane with Akira, Ryuji, and Kevin in a row. Akira sat inside with Ryuji in the center and Kevin on the outside. Everyone fell asleep, except Ryuji who was too excited to fall asleep. He ended up watching the movie they were showing on the plane until he eventually fell asleep a few hours later.

After a good night’s sleep, Kevin was the first to wake up. He looked over to his left and laughed to himself as he saw Ryuji sleeping on Akira’s shoulder.

When Akira finally woke up, he looked over to his right and immediately turned to face the window to hide his blushing face when he realized the situation he was in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryuji was certainly excited for the trip. So much so that he yelled at the top of his lungs at everything like a little kid. Once they arrived at the hotel, it was time for room assignments.

“I wanna room with this guy!” Ryuji yelled out with his arm around Akira’s shoulders. Akira looked like his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

“You belong to a different class, Sakamoto-kun” Ms. Kawakami told him.

Ryuji looked sad that he couldn’t room with his best friend. Akira meanwhile cursed Kawakami under his breath and swore he was going to make her do something embarrassing the next time he called her over for maid services.

“I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll room with Kevin then” Ryuji said.

Kevin was a bit surprised to hear that. They may be friends, but he was still gay, and Ryuji was still very attractive. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I? Besides, I doubt anyone else in our class would wanna room with me” Ryuji said, accepting his fate as the class outcast.

After it was decided that Ryuji would room with Kevin and Akira would room with Mishima, the group of thieves went ahead to the beach where they played with their phones for the entire duration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the thieves convened at the front lobby to be greeted with a surprise. Yusuke was here! Apparently his school’s plane to Los Angeles couldn’t land due to bad weather, so they made a last minute change to Hawaii.

The group spent their afternoon on the beach, eating at Big Bang Burger and listening to foreigners talk about the Phantom Thieves.

Soon, night fell. Ryuji and Kevin were chatting in their room when suddenly they heard a knock on the door. It was Ann and Akira together.

“Yo, what’s up, you two?” Ryuji asked.

Ann proceeds to sit on Kevin’s bed while Akira sits on the couch.

“Get this, the girl I was rooming with went to go see her boyfriend. She even took the key with her! I walked outside for a second and got locked out!” Ann said, annoyed with her roommate.

Akira continued the story. “Ann came over to my room, but Mishima had invited Shiho over.” Apparently after Shiho got rejected, she started hanging out with Mishima a lot more. Seems like they got along well as victims of Kamoshida. “It was getting awkward with the two of them there, so we decided to come here.”

“Yeah, so I hope you don’t mind having two extra roommates tonight!” Ann said, beaming a smile at them.

Ryuji and Kevin just looked at each other, surprised that she’d be so willing to sleep in a room with three guys. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ryuji asked her.

“It’s fine, I trust you guys!” She paused for a second and retracted her statement. “Well, at the very least I trust two of you.” She looked over towards Akira and Kevin and gave them a smile.

Now they had to deal with a problem. How are they dividing up the beds? Ann got Kevin’s bed, but what about the other bed?

“I have playing cards” Akira said. “We can play Poker to decide who gets the bed.”

Ryuji looked excited. “Yeah, that sounds like fun! So winner sleeps on the bed, second gets the couch, and dead last gets the floor?”

Kevin suddenly comes up with a better idea, an evil smile forming on his face. “How about we change that. Top two winners get to share the bed and loser sleeps on the couch.”

Akira knew what Kevin was scheming and he immediately regret bringing up cards. That said, he wasn’t planning on losing. At the very least he didn’t want Kevin and Ryuji to sleep on the bed together. He wouldn’t be able to get any sleep over how jealous he’d be of them.

After an intense match of Poker, the results were in. Akira had gotten first place by a mile. Part of it was thanks to his Third Eye ability, but it was mostly due to Ryuji and Kevin having terrible Poker faces. Ryuji had gotten second with Kevin getting last by just a bit.

Ryuji was revelling in his victory. “Wow Kevin, you may be smart but you suck at card games!”

“Sh-shut up, we were almost tied! I’ll beat you next time!” Kevin stammered, upset that he was so close to winning.

“Guess that means I’ll be sleeping with you, buddy” Ryuji said to Akira.

While Akira was glad that he got to share a bed with Ryuji, he was also confused by Kevin’s reaction. Did he really intend on winning? What was his intention of suggesting the winners sleep in the same bed then?

The four of them get settled down, getting ready to sleep. Ryuji and Akira were on the same bed, their backs facing each other. Unable to sleep, Ann wanted to engage in some girl talk with the boys.

“So Ryuji, what kind of girls do you like?” Ann asked out of nowhere.

“Uhh, someone with a good personality” Ryuji responded.

Ann didn’t sound convinced. “Okay, then say two girls are equal in personality. Who would you choose?”

“Uh, I guess the one with the better bod” Ryuji responded.

“So you really are that shallow. The first answer was superficial while your second was how you really felt.” Looks like Ryuji fell for Ann’s trap. “What about you, Akira? What kind of person do you like?” Ann asked while knowing full well who about Akira’s crush.

What was Akira supposed to say? Someone strong? Kind? Fast? Blond? Named Ryuji? “Someone with a nice body.” Smooth, Akira.

“Uhhhh, okay… What about you, Kevin? What kind of boy do you like?” Ann asked.

Kevin let out a nervous laugh. “I guess looks and personality are both important to me, so that makes three of us.”

“Okay, then same thing with Ryuji. If two people were equal in looks and personality, how would you decide?”

Kevin just pauses for a bit before he answers. “Probably… the one I feel most comfortable being around.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ann asked.

“Well… I guess I’d want to be with someone who I feel I can be myself with and not have to worry about anything. Someone who I feel I can tell almost anything. Someone who doesn’t make me feel obligated to put on airs just to impress them.”

“Wow, that sounds just like me with Akira” Ryuji said. Kevin and Ann both immediately turned their heads towards him. “I always like it when we hang out. And I like talking with him, even though it’s usually just me talking for the most part. Something about him just makes me want to spill all my secrets to him. Whether it’s just us having fun at the arcade or fighting monsters in a palace, it’s like I can be myself around him. He makes me feel free, you get what I’m saying?”

Akira was glad the lights were off because his face was beet red after hearing all that.

“So is that what it’s like having a boyfriend? Basically like hanging out with your best bro?”

Ann and Kevin both proceed to facepalm themselves, feeling bad for Akira for falling in love with such an oblivious idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryuji opens his eyes, blinking a few times so his eyes would adjust to the brightness of the room. He sees Akira’s face very close to his own, their faces almost touching. He opens his eyes wide and freaks out, falling off the bed. His yell was loud enough to wake up everyone in the room and probably half the floor as well.

“What the hell, Ryuji?! What’s your problem?” Ann asks annoyed at her rude awakening.

“N-n-n-nothing’s wrong!” Ryuji quickly stammered, his face red with embarrassment.

Ann’s phone suddenly sounds. She opens up her phone to see a text message. “Awwww, that’s so cute!” she squealed, unable to contain her excitement.

Ryuji looks over at Ann’s phone and yells out “Wha- What is that?!” He sees a picture of himself and Akira sleeping with their faces almost touching. Apparently Kevin texted it to Ann. “Why do you have a picture of us sleeping?!”

Kevin was sitting on the couch the entire time, a book in one hand and his phone in the other. He puts his phone to his mouth and laughs. “Sorry, you two just looked so cute together I couldn’t help myself.”

“Not cool, dude!” Ryuji yelled. 

Suddenly all of their phones sounded. Ann sent the picture to the Phantom Thieves chat.

**Ann:** Everyone, give your best wishes to the lovely couple!

**Yusuke:** It’s beautiful. You two look so peaceful sleeping together.

**Yusuke:** You two must model for me some time!

**Makoto:** Congratulations, you two.

**Makoto:** But why are you sleeping together? Please stay in your assigned rooms!

**Ann:** Whoops, forgot Makoto was here.

**Futaba:** Ann’s roommate went to her boyfriend’s room and took the key with her, so she was locked out all night.

**Futaba:** The NPC brought his girlfriend over, so Akira and Ann went to Ryuji and Kevin’s room.

**Makoto:** Who? 

**Makoto:** And how…

**Futaba:** I can hear all and see all from Akira’s phone.

**Makoto:** Futaba! That is a serious invasion of privacy!

**Makoto:** But considering the circumstances, I’ll forgive you two.

**Makoto:** But please stay in your assigned rooms! I understand if it’s hard for you and Ryuji to be separated from each other.

**Ryuji:** Stop!

**Ryuji:** Akira and I are just bros, okay?!

Kevin proceeds to send another picture of Akira and Ryuji sleeping, this time one where Ryuji was flat on his back, arms and legs spread out while Akira had one arm on his chest.

**Ann:** Awwwww, so cute!

**Ryuji:** Gah! How many pictures did you take?!

**Kevin:** About 10. 

**Kevin:** You two moved around a lot in your sleep.

**Kevin:** Especially you, Ryuji.

**Futaba:** Please send them to me. For research.

**Ann:** I want them, too!

**Yusuke:** I’d like copies as well.

**Makoto:** Guys! This is a serious invasion of Ryuji and Akira’s personal space!

**Makoto:** But I do have to admit, I am curious to see these other pictures as well.

**Ryuji:** NO!

**Ryuji:** DON’T SEND THEM ANYTHING!

**Akira:** Don’t forget to send me some.

**Ryuji:** AKIRA!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Akira and Kevin spent the entire afternoon with Ryuji as he went around hitting on girls. It was a repeat of the beach trip, except this time with Kevin instead of Yusuke and with Ryuji trying his hardest to string together some nonsensical English phrases. 

After walking all over the beach for almost an hour, Akira went over to the food stand to buy drinks for them.

“Come on, Kevin! Please teach me some pickup lines in English!” Ryuji begged.

“Why? It’s not like you can date anyone here. You’re all the way in a foreign country with a language you can barely speak.” Kevin told him flatly.

“Please! I need you to do me this one favor!” Ryuji continued to beg.

Kevin sighed. “Fine, I’ll teach you a pickup line.”

“Really? Thanks man, you’re the best!” Ryuji said as he put his arm around Kevin.

Akira came back with a drink in each hand and balancing another one on his head. He had been training his proficiency, so it was no big deal for him. As soon as he returned, Ryuji quickly grabbed his arm. “Dude, come quick! Kevin taught me a great pickup line! He said it’ll only work if we’re together though.” Kevin grabbed the drink off Akira’s head before it fell off and waved the two goodbye on their endeavors.

Ryuji ran up to two girls and immediately started talking to them in extremely broken English. “Hello! I am Ryuji, nice to meet you!”

The two girls looked at each other confused. “Uh, hi. Did you want something from us?”

Ann and Makoto arrived on the beach and found Kevin alone. “Hey Kevin, where’d Akira and Ryuji go?” Ann asked.

Kevin points over at Ryuji 10 feet away talking to some girls while grabbing Akira’s wrist. Suddenly they all hear him saying something to the girls really loudly in very broken English. “I have a boyfriend! His name is Akira!” he said pointing to his best friend.

Kevin proceeded to spit out his drink while Ann and Makoto just covered their mouths with their hands. Akira proceeded to crush the drinks in each of his hands, his face turning beet red. The two Hawaiian girls just looked at each other confused. “Um, I’m happy for you?”

Ryuji nudged Akira and whispered to him, “Hey Akira, what did they say?”

Akira didn’t respond. His mind was completely blank after that confession.

“Hey, Akira, hello?”

The girls just walked away not sure what all that was about. Ryuji walked back over to the group downtrodden. “Oh hey, you two are back? What’s wrong, you both look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Ann walks up to Ryuji. “Ryuji, do you know what you just said?!”

“Huh? Yeah, of course I do. Why?” Ryuji asked looking confused.

Ann and Makoto just stared at each other. “Um, congratulations again I guess. I didn’t think you two would be so open about your relationship” Makoto said.

“What do you mean? Why would I try to hide that Akira’s my friend?”

“Okay Ryuji, tell me. What do you think you just said to those girls?” Ann asked.

“Uh, I just said ‘Let’s go on a double date with my friend Akira.’”

Kevin is still sitting there dying of laughter while Ann and Makoto just sigh. “Ryuji, that’s not what that means! You just said ‘I have a boyfriend, his name is Akira.’”

Ryuji’s eyes go wide as he realizes what happened. “Kevin! You tricked me!”

If there were truly such a thing as dying of laughter, Kevin certainly came close to it that day.


	18. What Happens In Hawaii Stays In Hawaii (2)

“Man, I can’t believe you made me say that!” Ryuji said as he stuffed his face with his third burger.

“Come on, I said I was sorry. Plus I paid for your dinner” Kevin responded. Akira was just sitting there staring at his burger, his mind still blank after what happened earlier.

“Oi, Akira, you alright, buddy?” Ryuji asked as he waved his hand in front of Akira’s face.

“You two enjoy the rest of your food. Ann called me to her room to help her with something” Kevin said as he got up and left. Kevin felt bad about lying to Ryuji, but he had to in order to enact his plan. Kevin rushes back to the hotel and knocks on Akira’s door, hoping Mishima was back. Thankfully he was.

“Tanaka, what are you doing here?” Mishima asked.

Kevin looked around the room and noticed that no one else was there. “Suzui isn’t with you today?”

Mishima shakes his head. “No, Kurusu didn’t come back last night so Suzui and I both felt bad. She said she’ll be hanging out with Ann and her roommate tonight instead.”

Kevin claps his hands together and throws his head down. “Can you please ask her to come over again? Tell her it’s very important!”

Mishima was taken aback, wondering why Kevin was so desperate to have Shiho stay over. “I-I’ll try asking her, but I can’t make any promises.”

Shiho sounded a bit reluctant, but she decided to come over. When she arrived, she was surprised to see Kevin there as well. “Tanaka, what are you doing here?”

“Sorry, I actually asked Mishima to call you over” Kevin said apologetically. “The truth is…” Kevin explained how Akira had a huge crush on Ryuji so he wanted to try and set them up together.

“Aw, that’s so sweet. Very well, I’ll do my best to help. What should I do?” Shiho asked.

“Just please stay here and talk with Mishima. At least until Akira leaves.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After five whole burgers, Ryuji was finally finished eating. Akira had snapped out of his daze long enough to finish the two burgers he had ordered. After returning to his room, he was surprised to get greeted by not one, but two familiar faces.

“Ah, Kurusu! Welcome back! How was your day today?” Mishima asked.

Akira sees Mishima together with Shiho again. “It was okay. We just went to go hit on girls at the beach.”

“I-I see. Well, I hope you don’t mind that Suzui is here again.” Mishima said nervously.

Akira looks over at Shiho. “I-I’m sorry for intruding again” Shiho answers nervously as well.

Akira sighs, a bit annoyed that his roommate brought his girlfriend over again. “It’s fine, I’ll just go sleep with Ryuji and Kevin again.” Akira walked out the door and headed for Ryuji’s room.

Shiho and Mishima let out a sigh of relief, a bit worried that Kurusu would be mad at them.

Kevin comes out of the bathroom. “Thanks! I’m sorry for springing this on you two so suddenly.”

“Oh no, it was no trouble at all!” Shiho said. “Anyways, I should head back now. I’m sure Ann wants to hear about what happened.”

“Alright, you have fun with Ann and her roommate! Hope you don’t mind me stealing your boyfriend for the night then.”

“W-what?!” Mishima stammered, blushing as he looked over at Shiho.

Shiho’s face was flushed as she ran out the door.

Kevin took out his phone and sent a quick text to Ryuji.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryuji was lying on his bed and sighed as he saw Kevin’s text. Suddenly he heard a knock on the door.

When he opened it, he was surprised. “Akira?! What are you doing here, man?”

“Mishima invited Shiho over again. Would you mind if I slept on your couch?” Akira asked.

“Sure sure! Come on in!” Ryuji yelled out excitedly.

Akira looked around. “Where’s Kevin? Shouldn’t he be back by now?”

“Oh, he texted me just now saying he’s playing cards with some guys in another class. Says they were short a player so they invited him over. He’ll probably come back very late.”

Akira put two and two together and realizes he fell for Kevin’s trap again. He felt like something was off about Shiho and Mishima, but he didn’t think too much about it earlier. “S-sorry, I should probably head back to my room. I can’t let Shiho and Mishima keep kicking me out.”

Ryuji suddenly looks at Akira with his sad puppy dog eyes. “Do you gotta? It’s going to be so lonely being here by myself.”

Akira cursed Kevin for tricking him again. He’s stuck alone in a room with his crush and he has no way of backing out without hurting his feelings. His heart won’t be able to stand this! “I’ll stay.”

Ryuji’s mood immediately brightened up. “Alright! Make yourself at home, dude!”

Akira sighed and walked over to the couch.

“Whoa whoa, what are you doing? I can’t let you sleep on the couch!” Ryuji yells out.

Akira goes ahead and sits on Kevin’s bed.

“I can’t exactly kick Kevin off his bed either.” Ryuji seemed conflicted.

“Then would you like to sleep on the same bed again?” Akira jokingly said to Ryuji, knowing there’s no way he’d agree after what happened that morning  _ and _ that afternoon.

“Sure, if you’re cool with it.” Akira definitely didn’t expect that. Ryuji was seriously fine with sleeping in the same bed as him again? And he didn’t even hesitate at all!

“Are you sure, Ryuji? Would you like a repeat of this morning to happen again?” Akira asked his oblivious friend.

Ryuji blushed a bit. “Yeah, it’s fine. You’re my best bro so I know I can trust you. I was just caught off guard in the morning, that’s all.”

Was this seriously happening? He’s about to share a bed with his oblivious crush for the second night in a row. The same oblivious crush who unintentionally confessed to him in English. This had to be a dream. Maybe he’s just drugged up in some interrogation room having some sort of hallucination. Nah, that’s impossible.

After talking to each other nonstop for over an hour, the two boys both went to bed. The same bed. Just two bros chilling together in the same bed in a hotel all the way in Hawaii, nothing strange about that.

“Hey, Akira. You asleep yet?” Ryuji asked.

“Yes” Akira replied.

“Very funny” Ryuji said, unamused by his friend’s joke. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Akira asked, curious about why Ryuji would ask now of all times.

“It’s about last night. You said you liked girls with a nice body. But Ann didn’t ask you a second time like he did with me and Kevin.” Why was Ryuji so perceptive now of all times? “So, what kind of girls do you like? I-if you don’t want to say that’s fine as well! I’m not forcing you or anything!”

Akira paused for a moment. He wasn’t entirely sure how he should answer this. “I… I guess I like someone I can relate to.” Was he seriously going to tell him all this? “After I got my criminal record, a lot of people who I felt like I could trust just distanced themselves from me. That made me realize that none of them really cared about me that much.” Akira paused again. Not sure if he should continue. “I just want someone who I can trust completely, and it only took me a criminal record to find that out.”

“Wow, that’s deep, dude. I hope you find that special girl. Although besides Ann, Makoto, and Futaba, I’m not sure if there’s a whole lot of people who can look past your criminal record and all.” Ryuji said.

“I-it doesn’t have to be a girl.” Akira immediately regret saying that.

“Not a girl? So you’re cool with guys as well?” Ryuji asked.

Akira started getting up. “I-I’m sorry, I should really go. I’m sorry for making things awkward.”

Ryuji grabs Akira’s arm. “Wait, don’t go!” Akira could feel his cheeks heating up. He just confessed that he liked guys and now his best friend and crush was grabbing his arm. How is he supposed to interpret this? “It’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with liking guys! After all, we all hang out with Kevin, right?”

Akira laid back down in bed, wishing the day would just end already.

“So… are you gay? Or possibly bi?” Ryuji asked.

Akira hesitated a bit before answering. “I’m not entirely sure, maybe pan. I never really cared much for whether someone was a guy or a girl. They just all look the same to me.”

“I see… Thanks… For telling me” Ryuji said. “Does anyone else know?”

Akira thinks for a bit. “Sort of. I kinda told Ann when I rejected her, but she just knows I’m not entirely into girls.”

“For real?! Ann asked you out? And you just turned her down?” Ryuji asked, facing his friend’s back as he said that.

Akira nodded. “Also Makoto did as well, so I felt it was only fair to tell her as well.”

“For real?! I can understand Ann, but Makoto as well? Dude, how are you going to find someone better than them?” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Also if Futaba didn’t know before, she probably knows by now.” Akira added.

“What? Why do you say that?” Ryuji asked.

“My phone. Remember?”

“Oh...right…”

“And Kevin probably figured it out as well.”

“Well, Kevin’s Kevin. He’s too good at everything! Although I guess he sucks at cards.” Ryuji added while laughing. “Wait, you’re not in love with Kevin, are you?” Ryuji suddenly asked.

“No! Why would you think that?”

“Well, he did seem cool with all of us since day one. He didn’t really care about all those rumors going around about either of us. Plus he’s like, perfect! Even more perfect than Makoto, and she’s basically perfect!” Ryuji said. “Also he’s really good at cooking. You think he’d make a good housewife or something?”

Akira felt another surge of jealousy. “I’m not into Kevin, okay?!”

“But do you have someone you like?” Akira was silent. “Ah! So you do have someone you like! Come on, tell me! You can trust your best bro, right?” Ryuji pleaded, dying to know about Akira’s crush.

Akira made fake snoring sounds, hoping Ryuji would leave him alone. 

“Come on, man! I’ve slept with you enough times to know you don’t snore!” Ryuji kept pestering him for a while, but eventually he gave up when Akira just snored louder and louder.


	19. Games And Food

So much happened since the Hawaii trip. The Phantom Thieves acquired a new target Kunikazu Okumura, Morgana had a bit of a falling out with the rest of the team which resulted in Haru Okumura joining the team, and now that the palace has been taken care of, it’s time for the Phantom Thieves to prepare for their next midterm.

“Gah, I’m so bored!” Ryuji yelled as he put his head to the table.

“Ryuji, you’ve only been studying for 20 minutes” Makoto said to the blond.

“Yeah, and it’s 20 minutes too much of studying! Why do we still gotta take tests when we’re out saving the world?” Ryuji complained as he just drew circles on the table with his finger. “Hey Kevin, you wouldn’t happen to have another game to help us study like last time, do you?”

“Hm? A game?” Futaba asked, looking up from her phone.

“Yeah, this guy made a game to help us study for our finals last time!”

“Oh right, I seem to recall something about that.” Futaba said as she put her phone down. “If you made another one, let me in on it too, I wanna see!”

“I did make a game, but Ryuji and Ann need to learn how to study on their own. After all, they can’t rely on me their whole lives” Kevin says to the group.

“For real? Can you please send it to us? Please?” Ryuji begged.

Soon, Ann joins in with Ryuji. “Please?”

Kevin looks at the two of them and lets out a sigh. He throws a download link into the Phantom Thieves chat.

“Yes! Thanks man, you’re the best!” Ryuji says with a huge smile on his face. Ryuji, Ann, Futaba, and Akira all took out their phones and started downloading Kevin’s new game.

“Just keep in mind that just playing the game isn’t enough. You still need to put some effort into studying if you want to pass” Kevin told the group.

“We know, we know” Ann tells Kevin with a smile.

“Captain Kidd’s Space Adventure? Awesome! A game about space,  _ and _ my persona!” Ryuji said, excited to play. “Oh wait, I guess I have Seiten Taisei now. Man, I miss Captain Kidd.” As much as Ryuji liked fighting with his new persona, he still preferred a skeleton pirate over a punk rock monkey.

“I’m sorry I caused your persona to change. Maybe he’ll turn back if we stopped being friends” Akira says to Ryuji with his usual smirk.

“What?! Dude, I’d never give up being friends with you for something like this!” Akira was relieved to hear that. A part of him was worried Ryuji would actually take the offer.

“Hey, why don’t we have a race?” Futaba suddenly asks the group. “First one to beat the game gets declared the video game champion.”

“Oh, you’re on!” Ryuji was fired up and ready to go at that point. If only he could be that serious about studying as well.

“I’ll join in as well” said Akira.

“I’ll pass. I prefer taking my time with games” said Ann.

“Eh? You’re no fun, Ann. Inari, you join us, then!” said Futaba.

“I’ll have to pass. My course materials are far different from the ones at Shujin, and my midterms are coming up sooner than everyone’s as well.” It was true, Kosei’s curriculum looked like an actual school curriculum as opposed to...whatever Shujin’s was. 

Futaba pouted, annoyed that both Ann and Yusuke refused to join in. “Makoto~ Haru~”

Makoto lets out a sigh. “Futaba, everyone’s trying to study. We can play with you some other time, okay?”

“Why not? It sounds like fun” Haru says to Futaba.

“Haru!”

Futaba finally cheers up. “Yay! Haru’s joining, too!”

“Come on, Mako-chan. We can study whenever we want, but we can’t always hang out with everyone like this.”

Makoto just lets out another sigh. “Fine, I’ll join as well.”

Futaba looks in Kevin’s direction. “You’re joining us too, right, Kevin?”

“Are you sure? I did make the game, after all.”

“It’s fine! The more the merrier.” Futaba then lets out a smirk. “Besides, I won’t let you beat me even if you know the game inside out.”

Kevin took that as a challenge. “Oh, you’re on then!”

When all five of them finished downloading the game, Ann started counting down for the three of them. “3… 2… 1... Go!” 

As soon as she said “go”, Akira, Ryuji, and Futaba all started and went through the game as quickly as they could. Meanwhile, Haru and Makoto seemed to be taking their time with it. After just 30 minutes, Futaba suddenly puts down her phone. “Finished.”

“What? No way, you must have cheated!” Ryuji yelled.

Futaba looked a bit annoyed at his accusation. “Did not! I played fair and square just like the two of you.”

After another 30 minutes, Akira and Kevin both put down their phones. “Finished.” Akira looks in Kevin’s direction, surprised that it took him so long.

“Wow, and you were so confident you could beat me too, Kevin” Futaba snickered.

Another half hour passes and Haru puts down her phone. “I’ve also finished.” A few more minutes later, Makoto puts down her phone. “I’m done as well.”

“Dammit! I was so close!” Ryuji yells out.

Futaba looks over to Ryuji’s phone. “Nope, you’re still only about halfway there.”

“What? How’d you all finish so fast then?” Ryuji asked.

“All the answers were in the lectures. You would know if you paid attention to class” Akira said to Ryuji with a smirk.

“Hey, don’t tempt me to take your offer. I’m starting to really miss Captain Kidd right about now” Ryuji says to Akira. “What about you, Futaba? You’re not even in our grade!”

“Oh, I have photographic memory when it comes to text, so I just skipped through all the textboxes.”

“What? That’s not fair! You can’t just use your super memory powers like that!” Ryuji complained.

“Hey, they’re my super memory powers and I’ll use them however I want!” Futaba said as she pouted at Ryuji. “Still, playing games to study. This sure brings back memories.”

“Hm? You played games to study as well, Futaba?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah, a friend of my mom’s was a programmer. He actually came over to our house a lot. He was the one who taught me how to program way back before I became a hacker.” Futaba tells the group. “I didn’t like programming at first, but he made a game that taught me the basics and I ended up falling in love with it.”

“That’s very sweet of him, Futaba. I’d love to meet him some time and have a chat about video games as a form of education.” Makoto says.

Futaba looks down at the table and shakes her head. “Sorry, but he suffered a mental shutdown a few years ago. Now that I think about it, he was from my mom’s workplace, so maybe he was targetted by the same people who killed my mom.”

The whole group looks at Futaba with sadness in their eyes. Haru is the first to speak up. “I’m sorry to hear that, Futaba. I can’t say I understand the pain of losing a loved one, but we’re all here for you if you need us.”

Futaba shakes her head again. “It’s fine, I’ve already gotten over it.” Suddenly Futaba’s stomach starts growling. “Anyways, I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”

“We could have another hotpot!” Ann yells out.

“Hotpot sounds delightful! But this time we should finish it off with udon instead” said Yusuke.

“Boring! We can’t just have hotpot every time we celebrate!” Futaba tells the group.

“Then what do you want to eat, Futaba-chan?” Makoto asked.

“Curry” Futaba says as she puts her legs closer to her body.

Everyone looks at her wondering how she could possibly not be tired of eating curry almost every day. 

“If you guys want curry, I can make some” Akira says to the group.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try something else, Futaba-chan?” Makoto asked.

“I can make something if you guys don’t want curry” said Kevin.

“Kevin can cook?” Haru asked.

“Hell yeah, he can! He’s really good at it, too!” Ryuji says with a huge smile. Kevin looks over at Akira and sees a surge of jealousy on his face.

“Hey, I’ve actually been wondering for a while now. Who’s better at cooking? Kevin or Akira?” Ann asked.

Kevin and Akira both open their mouths and reply at the same time. “I am.” They both look at each other, taking it as a challenge.

“Hey Ryuji, you’ve tried both Kevin and Akira’s cooking, right? Who do you think is better?” Ann asked.

Both Akira and Kevin look at Ryuji waiting for his answer. Ryuji scrunches his eyebrows while he thinks and just shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re both good, I guess.”

Suddenly Futaba gets up from her seat, excitement covering her face. “Oh! Is that a shokugeki I smell? The leader of the mysterious Phantom Thieves versus the cooking prodigy from another country! This could make a good tiebreaker for our match earlier!”

“A shoku-what?” Yusuke asked.

Futaba points a finger at Yusuke. “A shokugeki! It’s a battle to determine who is the ultimate chef! Both of them will be following a certain theme and we get to judge who the better chef is!”

“I see. I do not see the purpose in such a ceremony, but if it means free food, then I shall happily oblige.”

“Then it’s settled! Since LeBlanc’s specialty is curry, we shall make that the theme!”

Both Kevin and Akira get up and prepare to cook for the team. Akira goes to the fridge to grab all of the necessary ingredients for LeBlanc’s curry before putting them in the pot to cook. Kevin meanwhile looks over what ingredients are left over.

After about an hour, Akira grabs 6 plates, puts some rice on all of them, and pours some curry on top of it. He puts a plate in front of everyone, who do nothing but stare at the mass of curry in front of them.

Futaba picks up her spoon. “Let us now commence with the judging.” Futaba takes a scoop of curry and takes a bite of it. She suddenly lets out a long and exaggerated moan. “This isn’t just your average curry! I can taste apples, honey, and chocolate giving the curry and extra bit of sweetness. Yogurt was then added to help meld together the flavor of the spices. Red wine was used to help tenderize the meat. There’s also some coffee to add a bit of bitterness which adds a level a complexity to the flavor. But this curry has such a mature flavor that feels as if it were cooked overnight. How could that be possible in just one hour?” Futaba lets out a gasp. “Could it be, steak sauce?!”

Everyone just looks at Futaba as if she were crazy. “What on earth are you doing?” Yusuke asked.

“Duh, I’m trying to be a proper shokugeki judge. Now all we need is for everyone’s clothes to fly off as soon as they take a bite and it’ll be perfect!”

Haru covers her mouth. “Oh my, I would prefer eating food that does not make my clothes fly off, thank you very much.”

Futaba pouts. “Fine, you can keep your clothes on, Haru. But I’m sure Yusuke would like to see Ann’s clothes flying off.” Futaba says with a smirk.

Ann suddenly goes wide-eyed. “What? How did you hear about that?” Futaba may not have been present during Madarame’s palace, but she still had access to all of Akira’s text messages. Including the text messages where Ann was freaking out about the whole world seeing her naked.

Yusuke shakes his head. “That may have been true a few months ago, but now that I know Ann’s true personality, I can no longer paint her beautifully.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Ann looks a bit relieved, but then suddenly looks a bit annoyed. “Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Anyways, is this curry really edible? It looks a bit, uh… red” Ryuji says as he pokes the bright red curry. “Dude, what’d you put into this?”

Akira starts naming off ingredients. “Apples, honey, chocolate, yogurt, oyster sauce…”

“Dammit, so it was oyster sauce this time!” Futaba says under her breath.

“Wine, coffee, and the secret ingredient love.” Akira puts his hands together to form a heart as he names off the last ingredient.

“For real? I thought Futaba was just kidding. Do all those seriously go into curry? Also what do you mean by love?” Ryuji asked as he kept prodding at the giant red mass before picking some up with his spoon. “I better not regret this.” Ryuji and everyone else in the group all take a bite of Akira’s curry. Soon after, everyone’s faces go red. “What is this?! It’s so spicy!” Ryuji said as he gulped down an entire cup of water.

Everyone else began chugging down water, except Haru who seemed unusually calm and was happily eating her curry.

“Is this seriously curry? I can still feel the intense heat radiating off my palate after just that first bite” Yusuke said, refusing to take another bite of the curry.

“If you don’t want it, then give it to me, Inari” Futaba said as she shovelled down more curry while drinking plenty of water on the side.

“Seriously, I thought I was going to die from how spicy it is” Ann complained.

“I know. But strangely enough, this curry’s not half bad. Just wish I didn’t feel like I was dying after every bite” Ryuji said as he tried to eat some more.

“I’m sorry, but is there perhaps something that isn’t so spicy? This is a little too much for me.” As Makoto said that, Kevin proceeds to bring over plates of food for everyone.

“This is…” Makoto said.

“Fried rice?” Ann finished. “I thought you were supposed to make curry.”

“Well, Futaba only said the theme was curry, so I decided to take some liberties with it” said Kevin.

Everyone picks up their spoons again and takes a bite of Kevin’s fried rice. “Whoa, this fried rice tastes almost like curry!” Ann shouted.

“It was the best I could manage using only curry ingredients since Boss doesn’t seem to have anything else” Kevin told her. He looks over at Futaba. “Not going to do a dramatic judging of my dish, Futaba?”

“Ehehe, I actually only knew the ingredients in Akira’s curry because I overheard them from Sojiro. I don’t know what you put into this.” Futaba takes another bite of the fried rice. “But whatever you put in here gets a thumbs up from me!”

“This is much more suited to my palate. It feels almost soothing to eat after that cacophony of heat attacking my senses” Yusuke said, glad he didn’t have to decide between starving another day and eating extra spicy curry.

“Okay everyone, it’s time to vote on the best dish! Now let’s go around and cast our votes!” Futaba said to the group.

There is silence in the air before Yusuke finally talks. “I vote for Kevin’s fried rice. Unfortunately I cannot eat the curry because of how spicy it was.”

Makoto is next. “I have to agree, I vote for the fried rice.”

“Fried rice for me as well” Ann said.

“So that makes 3 votes for fried rice, huh? I’m pretty much obligated to vote for curry, so it’s 3-1 right now” Futaba said.

“I vote for the curry. I very much enjoy spicy foods” Haru said.

Then it was Ryuji’s turn. He scrunched his eyebrows as he tried to think. “I have to go with the curry. It’s spicy as hell, but something about it just felt special, you get what I’m saying?”

Futaba lets out a snicker. “Clearly it’s all because of the secret ingredient. Your boyfriend’s love, right?”

Ryuji’s face turns red. “H-he’s not my boyfriend!”

Futaba clears her throat and starts talking in English. “I have a boyfriend! His name is Akira!”

“Wha- How do you know about that?!” Ryuji yelled.

“Hehe, I heard everything you two said in Hawaii, you know~” Futaba said as she covered her mouth trying to stifle her laughter.

“Oh my, so they really were dating. I’ve been meaning to ask this whole time, but I’ve been too afraid to say anything” Haru said.

“W-we’re not dating, okay! I already said that we’re just friends!” Ryuji said, still vehemently denying any feelings between the two. “Besides, Akira already has someone he likes!”

Everyone in the group just painfully looks in Akira’s direction, feeling bad that his crush was still so oblivious.

“Anyways, I guess that means we ended up in a tie. I guess Akira and Kevin are both equal” Futaba said.

Akira shakes his head. “No, Kevin is clearly the better chef. He tied with me using an improvised recipe while I just followed what Sojiro taught me… well, except for the love.”

“No, I only won because half the team couldn’t stand the spiciness. You’d probably have won if you’d known that beforehand” Kevin responded. The two of them looked at each other, acknowledging each other’s skills.

Futaba nudges Ryuji and talks just loud enough for everyone to hear. “Hey Ryuji, if you’re not careful, Kevin’s going to steal your boyfriend~”

“Shut up, I already said he’s not my boyfriend!” Ryuji quietly yells at her.

Kevin just laughs at their exchange, knowing that it would never happen. He sits down to take a bite of the curry Ann couldn’t eat. “Wow, that really is spicy!”

“I know, right? I’m sure it’s good just like the curry Akira normally makes, but it’s just too spicy for me to handle” Ann said.

Kevin continues eating the curry, drinking plenty of water in between bites. “Still, using Boss’s curry recipe is seriously cheating!”

Suddenly Futaba drops her spoon onto her plate and everyone turns to face her. “Is something wrong, Futaba-chan?” Makoto asked.

Futaba stares at Kevin for a bit before shaking her head. “No, nothing’s wrong.” Everyone goes back to finishing the rest of the food on the table.

“Those words… why do they sound so familiar?” Futaba wonders to herself.

_ “No fair, Wakaba! This curry is seriously cheating!” _


	20. A Hacker's Dilemma

Kevin walked out of the electronics store in Akihabara. His desktop started malfunctioning so he had to make a trip to buy some new parts for it. On the way back to the station, he notices a familiar figure approached by two guys. “Futaba~!”

“Kevin!” As soon as Futaba sees Kevin, she quickly runs towards him and hides behind his back.

The two guys talking to her walk away annoyed. “Tch, looks like she had a boyfriend. What a waste of time.”

As soon as they’re gone, Futaba started calming down. “What are you doing here, Futaba?” Kevin asked.

“Ah! Um, well…” Futaba starts fidgeting with her fingers. Suddenly a gust of wind blows past them and a piece of paper flies out of Futaba’s coat pocket, landing on Kevin’s face. “Ah!”

Kevin takes the piece of paper and reads it. “The promise list, huh? How nostalgic.”

“Huh? Did your parents make a promise list, too?” Futaba asked.

“Ah yeah, they did. I always thought it was a normal thing” Kevin replied. “Looks like you already finished most of your promises.” He looks down the list and sees the last few promises: go buy BL, go to a maid cafe, and make up with Kana-chan. “You still haven’t made up with Kana?”

Futaba looks at Kevin surprised. “What? How do you know about that?!”

“Just a guess. After all, you haven’t been outside of your room in over two years. If you had a fight with a friend, it was very likely before that time.” Futaba puts her hands behind her back and looks at the ground. “Futaba, you should make up with Kana sooner than later. The longer you wait, the more awkward it's going to get.”

“... I know, that’s why I’m out here today. I want to build up my guts so I have the courage to talk to Kana again.”

“I see. So I guess that explains why you’re trying to buy BL and go to a maid cafe” Kevin says as he laughs at her.

“S-stop laughing!” Futaba says as she covers her face.

“Sorry, sorry. But you really shouldn't come all the way to Akihabara by yourself. It's not safe for a girl like you to be alone. Why isn't Akira with you?”

“Ah, I wanted to ask him, but he’s on a date with Ryuji at Dome Town again.”

“Did he tell you that?”

Futaba shakes her head. “No, I read his text messages with Ryuji. I still can’t believe there’s been no progress in their relationship.” Futaba puts her hand to her mouth and smirks to herself. “Although thankfully, it looks like this quest doesn’t have a time limit.”

Kevin also laughs a bit. As harsh as it sounds, it didn't seem like Ryuji was going to find a girlfriend anytime soon, so Akira had plenty of time to confess. “I get that you’re having fun reading Akira’s texts and all, but you should really delete that bug. You wouldn't like it if everyone on the team could see all of your texts, right?”

“Alright, I’ll stop spying on Akira” Futaba said, downtrodden.

“Good. Now let’s go over to the bookstore. And we can go to the maid cafe afterwards to knock both of them off your list.”

“Ohhh, you’ll help me? Great! Then you can be my second key item!”

The two of them head over to the bookstore in Akihabara. Futaba nervously walked around and picked out a few technical books on chemistry, business, art history, and even a book on cooking and another full of dating tips. The cookbook was for Sojiro. She mentioned something about new curry recipes for the shop. The dating tips were for Akira. She thought it’d make a good present for him. She ended up grabbing everything except what she came here to buy.

“Futaba, you don’t have to be scared” Kevin reassured her.

“I-I’m not scared!” Futaba stammered.

“Futaba, you looked at the BL section and walked past 14 times.”

“No, it was only 13 times!” Futaba retorted.

“So you  _ were _ counting” Kevin teased Futaba.

“Geez, fine! Just help me pick out something then!”

The two of them browse around, nothing interesting Futaba. “Everything here either looks boring or is something I’ve already bought.” Futaba turns her head towards the R-18 section.

“Futaba, no.”

“Come on, please? Just tell the cashier you’re my older brother or something!” Futaba begged.

“Futaba, do you want me to tell Sojiro you were out looking at adult books?”

Futaba gulped and shook her head. There was no way Sojiro would let her get away with having adult manga. Even worse, she’d die of embarrassment if Sojiro knew what she was reading. She quickly picked out something that at least had a nice art style and headed over to the cashier. When the person in front of her went over to the cashier, she turned around to face Kevin. “I can’t do this! This is too embarrassing!”

“Come on, Futaba. It isn’t that embarrassing” Kevin said as he tried to reassure Futaba.

“Yes it is! She’s going to think I’m some weirdo for reading this stuff!” Futaba said as she crouched down and covered her face.

“Futaba, I’m sure she’s going to find it weirder that you bought books on astrophysics, famous thieves, and criminal psychology than a gay romance manga. Besides, you even have a book on dating tips.”

Futaba got up and started jumping in frustration. “The dating tips are for Akira so it doesn’t matter!”

“But the cashier won’t know, so isn’t it the same thing?”

Futaba thought for a moment and came to a realization. “I see. Thanks, now I’m embarrassed about buying  _ both _ of these books!” She crouches down and covers her face again. “She’s going to think I’m some lonely otaku who’s desperate for a date!”

Kevin puts down the stack of books he was carrying for Futaba and pats her head. “Don’t worry Futaba, she’s not going to think that.”

Futaba peeks out of her hands. “Really?”

Kevin nods. “Really.” Futaba seems to calm down a bit. “She’s going to think you’re a lonely otaku in love with a phantom thief planning a date in space.”

Futaba gets up again, this time pouting. “Hey, we both know that that’s Akira, okay? You saw the way he was holding Ryuji’s hand as we floated through the air locks in Okumura's palace.”

When the cashier called Futaba up, she nervously walked over while Kevin gave the cashier the books she wanted to buy. The cashier started scanning all of the books and gave a confused look with each book. She commented on how they had quite a variety of books, but nothing more than that. After Kevin and Futaba left the store, she let out a sigh of relief. “That was a close one. I thought my heart was going to jump out. But I guess that’s one off my promise list! Just two more left! Come on, Kevin, let’s go over to the maid cafe now.”

The two walked over to the maid cafe and took their seats. Futaba seemed pretty calm, although Kevin was a bit of a nervous mess. “What’s wrong, Kevin? You were so confident earlier. Now you look like the NPC.” Futaba said while stifling a laugh.

“It’s a maid cafe, Futaba, a maid cafe! What’s not embarrassing about a guy coming here?”

A maid walks over to their table. “Welcome home, masters! What can I get you two?”

“I’d like the Love Pancake, please!” Futaba told the maid.

“One Love Pancake for master it is! And what would you like, master?”

Kevin stares at his menu, still deciding on what to get. “I-I’ll get the Sincere Omelette.”

“Right, one Love Pancake and one Sincere Omelette for the masters, coming right up!”

A while after the maid left, she comes back with a plate of omurice. “Here you go, master! Now wait while I write a special message just for you!”

The maid started writing a message, but it ended up being a giant mess of ketchup. “Ah, I’m sorry, master! Would you please forgive me?”

“I-it’s fine! I like ketchup anyways” Kevin stammered.

“Thank you, master! You are so kind!” The maid said as she walked away.

“That’s +1 point to Kindness! Kevin’s kindness has ranked up from considerate to empathetic” Futaba said as she looked at Kevin through a circle she formed with her thumb and index finger.

“Uh Futaba, what are you doing?” Kevin asked confused.

“I’m trying to read your power levels here” Futaba said as she stuck her tongue out and looked harder through her imaginary scouter. “Kevin Tanaka. Kindness: Empathetic. Knowledge: Erudite. Charm, Proficiency, and Guts: Unknown. Hmm… my scouter must be malfunctioning. The values keep fluctuating back and forth.”

Kevin just looks at her confused. “I’m not really sure what’s going on.”

Futaba puts down her imaginary scouter. “Well you see, whenever I ask Akira about something weird he does, he always says it’s for building character. Like how he sometimes spends longer in the bathhouse. Normally he just goes there to take a bath and leave, but sometimes he stays longer saying it increases his charm. And on rainy days he stays even longer saying it increases his guts. Also he sometimes works at the beef bowl shop saying it increases his proficiency.” Futaba then puts her head on her arm. “Although I have to wonder what eating a ten pound burger has to do with building guts. If anything, I’d say it just builds up his gut instead. Hopefully Ryuji doesn’t mind dating a fatty.”

After the wait, the maid finally returns with Futaba’s pancakes. “Here you go, master! Here’s the Love Pancakes!”

“Ohhhh! They’re finally here!” Futaba said, excited to see her pancakes.

“Now please wait while I add the whipped cream, master.” Futaba just watched as the pile of whipped cream got larger and larger with each passing second until it towered above her head. “I’m so sorry, master! I added too much whipped cream!”

Futaba just stares at the stack of whipped cream. “This is perfect, I loved whipped cream! Thank you!” The maid looked almost ready to cry out tears of joy before she headed back to the kitchen. “Ah, damn it! I just increased my kindness instead! I should have yelled at her to fix it to build up my guts! All that wasted exp!” Futaba shouted out as she stuffed her face with whipped cream. “Still though, all this whipped cream and at no extra cost. This place is great! I should come here more often.”

“You must be gutsy enough if you’re willing to come back again. Girls don’t normally go to maid cafes, you know, and it’s embarrassing enough as a guy” Kevin said as he finished up the rest of his omelette.

“Hmm… Yeah, you’re right! Maybe my guts have finally reached the point where I can apologize to Kana-chan. And I didn’t have to eat a ten pound burger to do it. Thanks, Kevin!” Futaba said as she happily shoved more pancakes in her mouth. About halfway through, she suddenly stops.

“Is something wrong, Futaba?” Kevin asked.

Futaba just stares at her pancakes for a bit before she answers. “Say Kevin, do you happen to know someone named Tetsu?”

Kevin stops mid-bite. “Tetsu?”

“Remember that guy I talked about at the study session last week? The one who was friends with my mom? His name is Tetsu. For some reason you remind me of him, so I was wondering if you maybe met him somewhere.”

Kevin thinks for a bit before answering. “I do know someone named Tetsu, but I think it’s a different person. The one I know hasn’t suffered from a mental shutdown.”

Futaba sighs. “I see. I guess that’s the end of that lead. Since you aren’t related to Uncle Tetsu I was hoping you’d maybe met him somewhere.”

“Hm? The way you said that, it sounds like you knew we weren’t related. How would you know that?” Kevin asked.

Futaba covers her mouth realizing she just slipped up. “I-I’m sorry, I… may or may not have looked into your family registry… among some other things…”

“What?” Kevin asked, annoyed that Futaba has been using her hacking skills to look up private information. “Wait, other things? What else did you see?”

Futaba starts fidgeting with her fingers. “Um… I may or may not have looked up your current and past addresses. Also I looked into your traveling history to see if you maybe came over to Japan at any point before this year. And… I may have hacked into your Facebook account and read some of your private messages.” Futaba said as she shrunk in her seat.

“What? Futaba, those are private! How much did you see?”

“W-well… It was all in English, and there were a few combination of letters that I couldn’t decipher, but uh… from what I pieced together it looks like there’s this Laura girl who calls herself your girlfriend. Seems like your parents really like her. There’s also a guy named Mike you seem to be really close friends with.” Futaba slowly looks up at Kevin. “I take it your friends and family back in America don’t know?”

“No, they don’t. And they don’t need to know.”

There is an awkward silence between the two before Futaba finally speaks up. “Um, you know. If you have any problems, you can always talk to us about it. Akira’s a great listener, and I’m sure if you bring someone up, we could possibly give them a change of hea-”

“I said I’m fine, okay?!” Kevin shouted at Futaba, causing everyone to stop talking and turn their heads towards them. Futaba on the other hand was on the verge of tears.

“I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean- I need to go.” Futaba gets up and heads for the door.

“Futaba, wait!” Kevin yelled out before Futaba bolted out the door. He quickly grabs ten thousand yen from his pocket and slams it on the table before running out after her. He takes a left after exiting and stops as he hears sobbing from the alleyway. Looks like she didn’t get very far with her stamina. He walks over to where Futaba was crying, her face buried in her legs.

“I’m sorry- I- I just missed Uncle Tetsu so much- and you reminded me too much of him. I didn’t mean to snoop around, but I felt like maybe you two were somehow connected. In the end I found nothing and all I did was make you angry. I’m sorry” Futaba said in between sobs.

Kevin crouches down next to her. “Futaba, I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to yell at you. But please stop looking into my private life, okay?”

Futaba’s breathing starts calming down before she finally looks up. “O-okay.”

“Good. Not let’s go back to the cafe. We kinda left all out stuff there” Kevin said as he started petting Futaba’s head.

Futaba stays still for a while before finally standing up. “You even pet my head the same way as Uncle Tetsu. It’s like you’re his reincarnation or something.”

“Come on, we both know that’s not possible. Otherwise I’d only be around two years old” Kevin said as he laughed.


	21. Destinyland

At Haru’s invitation, the Phantom Thieves go to Destinyland to celebrate another successful change of heart. Tonight, it was time for Okumura’s press conference where he’s supposed to confess his crimes and reveal the true mastermind behind everything. In the meantime, the thieves all split up into smaller groups due to conflicts of interest. Makoto, Haru, Yusuke, and Futaba all went together to ride the teacups. Ann, Akira, Ryuji, Kevin, and Morgana all went off elsewhere, although Ryuji and Morgana just argued most of the way with Ryuji wanting to go on the roller coasters and Morgana refusing to go on any puke rides.

“Come on, why’d you even follow us if you don’t want to get on the roller coasters? Just go with Futaba and the others on the teacups!” Ryuji yelled at his feline friend.

“Because as a gentleman, I can’t just leave Lady Ann alone with three guys. Who knows what would happen to her?” Ann just rolls her eyes at Morgana’s excuse. 

“Then just wander around while we go on the puke rides. I’m sure Ann wants to go as well, right Ann?” Ryuji looked over at Ann who was just staring off in another direction.

“What was that? Sorry, I saw a crepe stand and got distracted” Ann was practically drooling at the thought of having a crepe.

“Dude, don’t you get a crepe like every other day?”

“That was before I started taking modelling seriously, Ryuji! I haven’t had a crepe in over two months!” Ann continues to stare at the crepe stand. “Can we just take a quick break? Please?” Ann begged the group.

“What? Come on, you can get a crepe anywhere! It’s not everyday you get to come all the way to Destinyland, right?”

“I- I know, but these are crepes from Destinyland! I might never get the chance to eat them ever again!”

“Now now, why don’t we just split up? Ryuji can go on another ride with Akira while Ann and I go grab crepes” Kevin tells the two, hoping to break up the argument.

“Yes! I promise to be quick, so you guys find something short to ride. Come on, Kevin!” Ann said as she dragged him over to the crepe stand.

Ryuji looks down at Morgana. “Aren’t you going to follow ‘Lady Ann’” Ryuji asked, mocking the way Morgana calls her Lady Ann.

“I- I’m sure Lady Ann will be fine! I need to watch over you two to make sure you don’t get lost!” Morgana yelled at the two. Truth was, Ann asked him to keep an eye on the two and let her know how their relationship was progressing.

“Fine, whatever. Just don’t complain if we go on a ride you can’t join. Come on, buddy.” Ryuji grabbed Akira’s wrist and looked around for a ride they could go on together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh man, these crepes are the best!” Ann said, practically moaning as she took another bite of her crepe. “Thanks for joining me, Kevin. It would’ve been so lonely eating a crepe here all by myself.”

“N-no problem” Kevin stammered, taking a bite of his crepe.

“Is something wrong, Kevin? You seem a bit nervous.”

“It’s just… are you sure you’re fine being with me and not the rest of the group? I’m sure it’d be more fun if there were all together, right?”

Ann rests her chin on her hand. “Nah, I’d rather be alone with you than the two lovebirds. I mean, come on, they’ve practically been joined at the hip since at least June and Ryuji is  _ still _ so clueless! Even Yusuke’s figured it out by now!” Ann lets out a sigh and takes another bite out of her crepe. “And to think, I finally manage to find a decent guy and he ends up being gay for the delinquent.” Ann lets out a sigh, still sad that Akira rejected her. “Ryuji has no idea how lucky he is. I wonder if I should just find a girl instead.”

“Hey, if things between Suzui and Mishima don’t work out, you could always hook up with her instead” Kevin half-joked.

“Mmm, maybe. I know Shiho’d be cool with dating a girl, but I’d still feel strange about dating my best friend. Although I guess saying that out loud I might understand why Ryuji can be so oblivious now” Ann lets out another sigh. “I have half a mind right now to just tell Ryuji that Akira loves him and just get it over with. Akira keeps asking me for dating advice, but every time I tell him I have no dating experience, he just complains saying I’m the Lovers arcana so I should understand everything about love. Whatever that means.”

Lovers arcana? Now that Ann mentioned it, Akira did say something about Kevin having two arcanas associated with him. What did he mean by that?

“Say Kevin, would you mind telling me a bit more about your life back in America?” Ann asked.

“Huh? Uh, sure. What brings this up?”

“It’s just… I realized now after talking to you that I know very little about you even though we’ve been friends for the past 6 months. Akira helped me out with some trouble involving Mika and my career as a model, so we talked a lot. Ryuji I’ve known since middle school. I’ve been talking more with Makoto ever since we apologized to each other back at the start of Kaneshiro’s palace. And we all know a bit about Yusuke, Futaba, and Haru’s pasts thanks to the palaces as well. But as for you, all I know is that you’re smart, you’re good with computers, and you’re good at cooking. I want to know a bit more about you.”

Kevin scratches his head, coming up blank. “I don’t really have a lot going on in my life. If there’s something you want to know, feel free to ask.”

“Okay then, do you have a guy you like?” Ann asked with a huge smile on her face.

“N-no! No one at all!”

“Aha! I knew it! Come on, tell me about him. What’s he like? How far have you two guys gone?” 

Kevin’s face is completely red. He’s too embarrassed to respond.

“Don’t worry, I won’t press you for answers if you’re not comfortable telling me.” Ann finishes the rest of her crepe and crumples up the paper holding it. “Still, I gotta say, you seem like a completely different person now. You always seem so calm and composed. Well, except for that one time at Futaba’s palace. Now you’re almost the opposite. You seem a bit more shy and reserved.”

“S-sorry, I guess I just feel more at ease when I’m in the metaverse.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean! My costume’s still a bit embarrassing, but it feels nice to just whip some shadows into submission, you know?”

Kevin wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing that she was getting so used to fighting with her whip.

“I gotta say though, this side of you is cute. Like a little rabbit I just wanna pet. But it’s nice knowing you’re so reliable when we need you. Especially when we’re fighting tough shadows in the metaverse.”

“Ah! I knew I shouldn’t have left Lady Ann alone with you, Kevin! How dare you get so close to her!” Ann and Kevin turn their heads and see Morgana jump onto the table.

“Wha- Morgana? What are you doing here? I thought I asked you to keep an eye on the two lovebirds?” Ann asked.

“I was, but then they went into the tunnel of love to make out so I left” Morgana said as he licked his paw.

Kevin and Ann look at each other in surprise. “What?” They say in unison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ A few minutes ago, as soon as Ryuji, Akira, and Morgana went off on their own _

“Hmmm… nothing here looks all that interesting” Ryuji said as he hanged his head in disappointment. “Man, if only Ann didn’t feel like stuffing her face with crepes. Maybe we could go into another area to find cool rides. Anything you wanna ride, Akira?”

Akira just looks around, not finding anything of interest in particular.

“Wait, I think I found a fun ride!” Ryuji yelled out, running towards a boat ride.

Pirates of the Meridian? Of course Ryuji would like a pirate-themed ride. “Sure, sounds like fun.”

Ryuji and Akira get on one of the boats together, but Morgana doesn’t join. “You not coming along, Morgana?” Ryuji asked.

“Alone with two guys in a dark tunnel? Gross, you two can go make out in the tunnel of love alone. Meanwhile I’m going to go back to Lady Ann.” 

“What was that?!” Ryuji yelled at the cat. “Fine, go back to Ann!” Ryuji crosses his arms as he gets back in his seat. “Good riddance. Man, can you believe everyone? They keep treating us like a some kind of couple. What’s wrong with just two guys being close friends, right?”

Before Akira had any chance of responding, the boat started moving and they were instantly greeted with darkness. Needless to say, Ryuji was way too excited for the ride. He was singing along with the music (horribly out of tune at that) and he’d shout at every little thing in excitement. 

Akira just stared at all the animatronics, bored of the ride already. Still, he was glad Ryuji was enjoying himself. That’s all that mattered to him. Suddenly he remembered what Morgana said. The Tunnel of Love… Akira gulped as he braced himself. He could eat a 20 pound burger, he could approach a former Yakuza about a toy gun, and he could even drink mysterious medicines that no sane person would be willing to drink. He should be able to hold Ryuji’s hand, no problem.

“Hey, Akira.” 

As soon as Ryuji said something, Akira quickly retracted his hand. “Yeah?”

There’s a short pause before Ryuji continues. “This is a bit embarrassing, but I’m glad we’re here alone. I’m sure everyone else would just laugh at me for yelling so much. Especially Morgana, he’d never let me hear the end of it. So thanks, for being here.”

“N-no problem.”

Before Akira got another chance, the ride ended and they both got off.

“Man, that was a lot of fun! What’d you think, Akira? Akira?” Ryuji looked over at Akira who was staring at the ground. “Hello, Akira? Are you there, buddy?”

Akira took a deep breath. If he was going to confess, this was probably the best opportunity. He looks Ryuji straight in the eyes. “Ryuji.”

Ryuji just looks at Akira confused. “Yeah?”

“The truth is, I-”

“There you two are!” Akira and Ryuji turn their heads to see Morgana, together with Ann and Kevin following behind.

“Were you guys waiting for us?” Ryuji asked.

“Nah, we just got here. Morgana ran over as soon as he saw you two getting off” Ann told them. “So, how was the Tunnel of Love?”

“Come on, that’s not funny anymore. Akira and I are just friends, capiche?”

“Okay, whatever you say~” Ann teased. “Anyways, everyone else is waiting for us. Come on, we can’t keep them waiting!”

Ann and Kevin start walking away.

“So what did you want to say?” Ryuji asked.

Akira shakes his head. “It’s nothing. We should join up with the others.” Akira starts walking away with Ryuji following behind him.

Morgana jumps on Akira’s shoulder to ask him a question. “So, how’d it go in there, Joker?”

Akira just keeps walking before answering. “No more sushi for a week.”

“Wha- What? What did I do?!” Morgana asked, begging Akira to let him have some sushi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The five of them reunited with Futaba, Yusuke, and Makoto who were trying on headbands. Haru on the other hand was nowhere to be found. Futaba was wearing a headband with giant rabbit ears and a tophat. Makoto was also wearing a headband, one with cat ears and a giant bow.

“Hey Akira, how do I look?” She asked as she ran up to Akira.

“You look cute. It really fits you.”

“Hehe. Too bad there isn’t a fox headband though. It would really suit Inari.”

Yusuke just turns his head in disgust. “Hmph! Even if there were such a headband I would not be caught wearing something so childish!”

“Ah! Are you calling me a child, Inari?! Look, even Makoto is wearing one!”

Makoto takes off the headband she was wearing. “Sorry Futaba-chan, but I have to admit this is a lot more embarrassing than I expected.”

“Here, let me try them on then” Ann says as she tries on the headband. “How do I look?”

“You look as beautiful as always, Lady Ann” Morgana says as he continues staring at her creepily.

Ryuji starts snorting. “Haha, you look ridiculous, Ann!”

Futaba runs over to the booth and grabs a pair of bear ears and quickly puts them on Ryuji’s head.

“Hey, what gives?!” Ryuji said as he takes them off.

“Come on, the girls can’t be the only ones wearing headbands!” Futaba lets out a snicker. “Besides, I’m sure your boyfriend likes it.”

“Stop saying that already!” Ryuji says, annoyed that his friends are still insinuating that they’re dating.

“I think you’ll look great in them, Ryuji” Akira tells him.

Ryuji thinks for a bit then puts the headband back on. He starts scratching his face lightly as a blush forms on his face. “H- how do I look?”

Ann bursts out laughing at this point. “You’re right, they do look ridiculous!”

“Dammit, Ann!”

Akira also starts chuckling a bit at how ridiculous Ryuji looks. Ryuji sees him laughing and grabs a pair of deer ears and puts them on Akira’s head as revenge.

“Hmm… looks like your hair’s getting in the way. Hold on, let me try to fix it.” Ryuji gets very close to Akira’s face and starts adjusting them, trying to find a way for him to wear it without his hair getting in the way. “Nope, guess your hair’s just too long and messy to wear these. Hey, are you okay? Your face is all red.”

Kevin starts laughing at Akira’s expression, enjoying the show. Ryuji notices and takes the headband off Akira’s head and puts it on Kevin’s instead.

“Hey!” Kevin says as he starts to take off the headband.

Ryuji just puts a hand on Kevin’s head. “Come on, I don’t want to be the only guy to suffer here! Just keep them on until we leave the park, okay?”

Before Kevin could say anything, Haru returns. “Everyone, please come this way. I had a staff prepare a table just for us to watch the fireworks.”

“Fireworks? Awesome! We can make up for our time at the fireworks festival now!” Ann said.

The group leaves the booth and starts walking over to the table that the staff prepared. This was probably one of the happiest days of their lives. Too bad those happy days were soon coming to an end...


	22. Maid Cafe

“Man, of course everyone had to ditch me today” Ryuji said as he hanged his head in disappointment. 

It’s day two of the Shujin Culture Festival. Two weeks had passed since the Phantom Thieves celebrated their most recent change of heart at Destinyland. Now that the world thinks the Phantom Thieves are murderers, the group is trying to fit in as students as best they can.

Ryuji takes a look at his texts from last night. Akira texted him that he was busy and couldn’t hang out until in the afternoon. Kevin told him last night he was going to be busy. Ann texted him and said she and Akira were both working in their class’s booth that day. “Guess I’ll go ahead and see how Ann and Akira are doing at their booth.”

Ryuji walked over to class 2-D to see that the room was almost full. “The hell? Where’d all these people come from?” He looks up at the sign and notices it was changed from “Maid Takoyaki” to just “Maid Cafe”.

“Ryuji! Over here!”

Ryuji looks over to see Ann in a maid costume calling out to him. “Ann?! You’re working as a maid?”

“Yup! We were low on staff, so I thought I might as well sign up. I’m glad business is booming though, seems like my plan worked out perfectly! Plus I get to wear the maid outfits we custom ordered.”

“Wait, those are custom ordered? No wonder they cost so much. The hell did you do anyways? There’s no way people are possibly here for microwavable takoyaki, are they?”

“Of course not! We just kept it on the menu to use up the rest of the takoyaki we had left over. Oh, and we made sure to take out all the spicy pieces and made it a separate menu item for all the adventurous people out there. Anyways, we have a table for one still available. Right this way, Master~” Ann said as she led Ryuji to a small table.

As soon as Ryuji enters the cafe, he is greeted by another maid with long black hair. “Welcome home, Ma-” The maid stops mid-sentence after realizing who just entered.

Ryuji sees the other maid and blushes at her. 

“Ah, Ryuji, you’re here!” Kevin shouted from the little makeshift kitchen area.

“Wha- Kevin? So this is where you went?”

“Yeah, Ann has me working in the kitchen for her class. It’s been really busy so far, and she won’t let me take a break” Kevin said as he sighed.

“I see, no wonder this place got so busy. If you’re the one cooking I can see why people are starting to crowd around.” Ryuji looks back at the maid and then quickly turns to face another direction.

Suddenly a voice from across the room can be heard. “Hey, can we take our order now?”

Ann turns to face the other maid. “Hey, Akiko, would you mind seating our customer here while I go take someone else’s order?” The maid Akiko shakes her head, but Ann just ignores her. “Coming, Masters~!”

There is a brief moment of silence between Ryuji and the maid before Ryuji speaks up. “So uh, you going to seat me down somewhere?”

“Y-yes! Right this way, Master!”

After Ryuji sits down at a table, he looks at the menu, taking quick glances at the maid every once in a while.

“Are you ready to order now, Master? Or would you like to spend some more time staring at our maid?” Ann asked Ryuji.

“Sh-shut up, Ann! A-anyways, who is she? I don’t know anyone in our year named Akiko. Is she a first year? Or maybe a student from another school?”

Ann just laughs at Ryuji. “Oh, I see. Someone’s got a little crush~”

“Just answer the damn question!”

Ann continues laughing. “Come on, Ryuji, don’t tell me you seriously can’t recognize her?”

Ryuji takes another look at the maid, who turns her head to avert Ryuji’s gaze as soon as she notices him. “No, I feel like I’d remember a pretty face like that.” Ryuji then looks around the room. “By the way, where’s Akira? I thought he was supposed to be working here today.”

“He is. He’s working very hard right now.”

Ryuji looks over the room again. “Uh, where exactly is he working? I don’t see him anywhere.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll see very soon. Anyways, are you ready to order, or do you need more time?”

“Man, dropping the maid thing already? Some service.” Ryuji looks over the menu, having a hard time deciding from all the various items. “I’ll take an omurice then. Also an okonomiyaki. And a soda.”

“Okay, that will be 8000 yen!”

“What, I have to pay first?” Ryuji complained as he fished out his wallet.

“Coming right up, Master~” Ann says as she walks away to give Kevin the new orders.

After about half an hour, Ryuji looks over at the maid again. He sees Kevin giving the maid a plate of omurice and pointing in Ryuji’s direction. The maid looks over in Ryuji’s direction, who then quickly turns his head. He faintly hears footsteps walking over in his direction.

“Here you go, Master~!”

Ryuji recognizes the voice and quickly turns his head. “Wha- Kevin?! Why are you serving me?”

“Well, our maid Akiko seems to be a bit shy and Ann’s busy serving other customers, so I’m the only other one left. Now, would you like me to write something and cast a magic spell on it, Master~?” Kevin asked as he held up a ketchup bottle.

“Hell no! I don’t need a guy making ketchup art on my food. How the hell can you just say something that embarrassing with such a straight face?”

“Eh, why not? It’s fun~ Or would you rather I wear a maid costume instead?”

“Man, you’re even more into this maid thing than Ann is. By the way, do you know where Akira went? Ann says he’s working, but I haven’t seen him anywhere” Kevin looks at Ryuji a bit confused and then starts chuckling. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I’m sure you’ll see him real soon.”

“Kevin, we have some more orders!” Ann yells at him from kitchen area.

“Alright, coming!” Kevin turns back to Ryuji before walking back. “Enjoy your meal, Master~”

“Dammit, the hell do they mean by that?” Ryuji says as he takes a bite of his omurice. “But man, his cooking’s still as good as always.” After quickly devouring half his plate of omurice, Ryuji suddenly starts choking.

“Are you okay, Master?” Akiko asks as she hands Ryuji his cup of soda.

“Y-yeah, I’m- fine-” Ryuji says before quickly downing his entire glass of soda. “Thanks, er, Akiko.”

The maid starts blushing and quickly walks away.

“Man, what’s her problem?” Ryuji wonders to himself.

After some time, Ryuji looks over again and sees Kevin handing Ann a plate who then proceeds to give it to Akiko. Akiko just shakes her head, but Ann pushes her in Ryuji’s direction.

“H-here you go, Master” Akiko says as she hands Ryuji a plate of okonomiyaki.

“Thanks.” Ryuji says to the maid as she starts turning around. Before Akiko can walk away, Ryuji stops her. “Hey, wait.”

Akiko turns back around. “Yes?”

Ryuji scratches his head. “Er, aren’t you going to write something on this?”

“Oh, uh, sure. What would you like me to write for you, Master?” Akiko says as she takes out a squirt bottle with mayonnaise.

“Uh, how about just my name with a little heart at the end. Oh right, my name’s-” Ryuji stops mid-sentence as Akiko quickly writes down his name.

“Is this fine, Master?”

“Huh? Uh yeah, that’s perfect. But how’d you know my name?”

“Oh, well that’s…” Before Akiko can respond, she hears Ann arguing with some customers.

“Bullshit, I saw your friend there put that hair in your food himself! We don’t even have anyone with hair like that on the staff!”

“Hey now, are you really saying that me, a paying customer, would do that?” said one of the guys sitting at the end of the classroom.

Ryuji watches as Akiko walks over to the table. “Sorry, but you are disturbing the other customers. We ask that you please leave.”

“Hey, if you’re not going to remake our food, then we want our money back” said another male who appeared to be the leader of the small group.

“Like hell we’re doing that!” Ann yells back at them.

“Now, now, let’s not fight anymore. Here, have some okonomiyaki on the house” Kevin said as he handed a plate over.

“Okonomiyaki, huh? I guess that’s acceptable” the leader responded. “Looks like you’re a lot smarter than these other two.”

“Wha- Kevin? What are you doing? We can’t just let them win!” Ann quietly yelled at him.

Kevin motions for Ann to lean in closer and then whispers something in her ear. After hearing what Kevin had to tell her, she starts smiling and apologizes to the table. “We’re very sorry for all the trouble we caused, Masters~ Would you like me to write something for you as an apology~?”

The guys just look at each other confused and tell Ann to write “sorry” on their food.

“Okay, enjoy~” Ann said as she walked away.

A few minutes pass. Then suddenly, the three guys sitting at the table suddenly start yelling.

“Oh god, it’s so spicy!”

“W-water!”

Ann and Akiko both walk over with three sodas and hand them over to the group. “Are you alright, masters? Here, have a nice, refreshing beverage” Ann says with the same tone she uses when she’s lying as the two of them hand over the sodas.

The three of them quickly down their sodas and immediately start screaming even more.

“Ah, what is this? It feels even worse!”

Everyone in the classroom starts laughing as the punks who were just causing a commotion are now all screaming in pain. Seeing Ann laughing, the leader of the punks gets up from his seat. “W-why, you!” he says as he prepares to punch Ann.

Ann instinctively puts up her arms and looks away, but Akiko grabs the guy’s arm before he manages to hit her. Seeing this, Ryuji runs over as well to help. “Hey, the hell are you doing?”

The leader of the of the punks grabs onto Akiko’s hand, trying to force her to loosen her grip. “Let go, you stupid bitch!” he yells before he grabs her hair and pulls off a wig to reveal a familiar head of messy, curly hair.

Seeing this, Ryuji takes a step back. “Akira?!”

“Akira?” Color starts to drain from the punk’s face as he realizes who the maid “Akiko” really is. “Wait, you’re that transfer student, aren’t you? The one with the criminal record?”

“Oh shit, we better get out of here! He might actually kill us!” another punk yelled out as they all quickly ran off.

As if on cue, all the other customers also start leaving the classroom in fear of the rumored transfer student targeting them next.

Now that the classroom is once again deserted, Ann lets out a sigh. “Man, and our booth was doing so well just a minute ago. If only those losers didn’t have to go and ruin it for us.”

“Sorry about that. I guess I should’ve thought that plan through a bit better” Kevin said as he scratched his head.

“No, it’s fine. It was refreshing watching those guys suffer” Ann said with a huge smile on her face. “Chopping up the spicy takoyaki and stuffing it inside some okonomiyaki was brilliant! And having them drink sodas spiked with tabasco sauce was just pure evil. I like it.” Ann looks over at Ryuji who is still just staring at Akira with his eyes wide. “Hello, earth to Ryuji, are you there?”

Ryuji snaps out of his daze. “Huh?”

Kevin slings and arm around Akira’s shoulder and starts poking his face. “Hey now, I know you think our maid looks cute, but you should stop staring at him so intensely.” 

Akira swats Kevin’s hand away and goes to put back on the wig he was wearing. He clears his throat and then asks Ryuji in the same high-pitched voice he was using as Akiko, “How do I look, Master?”

“Ah! Well, uh… You look, uh, very cute as a girl. N-not that you don’t look cute as a guy! W-wait, I mean-” Ryuji stammered as he had a hard time coming up with what to say. Meanwhile, Kevin and Ann were both laughing to themselves. Akira turned his head so that he doesn’t meet Ryuji’s gaze.

Ann walks over to Ryuji and starts nudging him. “So Ryuji, you said you’d remember a pretty face like Akiko’s. Do you finally remember now?” 

“Sh-shut up, okay? I’m having a crisis over here!” Ryuji yelled at her. He then proceeds to bury his face in his hands and squats down. “I can’t believe I almost tried to hit on my best bro.” Ann and Kevin both felt bad for Akira, but they were also having too much fun messing with Ryuji.

“Well, since no one’s probably coming to our booth anymore, why don’t we eat the last of the food? It’d be better than letting it all go to waste” Ann says to the group.

“Sure, I’ll go ahead and cook up the rest of the food. We should have enough for 9 people, so we can invite everyone else as well.” Kevin walks over to the makeshift kitchen and starts up the portable stove Akira brought over from LeBlanc. Meanwhile, Ann goes ahead and tells everyone in the Phantom Thieves chat to go over to classroom 2-D for free food.

“Are you seriously okay with wearing that? Aren’t you embarrassed about everyone seeing you dressed like a maid?” Ryuji asked Akira.

Akira shrugs. “I don’t mind. It’s not like any of our friends would judge. Plus, Ann said it’d be funny to see how everyone reacts.”

“Yeah, but what about all those people earlier? They now know you were dressed like a maid. Aren’t you worried about more rumors spreading?”

“Yes, I should be worried about my nonexistent reputation. Worst case scenario they just see me as a cross-dressing serial killer. Not like that’s much worse than a normal serial killer.”

Ryuji scratches his head wondering how Akira can be so calm in a situation like this. “Man, both you and Kevin are so weird. What kind of self-respecting guy would wear a maid costume like it’s nothing?”

Akira looks back at Ryuji confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, guys don’t normally wear maid costumes, right? That’s-”

Akira interrupts. “No, not that. What did you mean about Kevin?”

“Huh? Oh, well Kevin was getting really into the whole maid act. He tried to write a message with ketchup and cast a magic spell. He even asked if he should wear a maid costume.” Ryuji looks at Akira and sees he’s deep in thought. “Is something the matter?”

Akira just stays still for a few moments before shaking his head. “No, it’s nothing.”


	23. Secrets (1)

“I take it you all agree to my terms? If that’s the case, then I shall take my leave” Akechi said as he walked out of the gym storage room. Akechi had just called out the thieves and blackmailed them into changing the heart of Sae Niijima. Of course, that’s what he wanted them to believe, and out of the entire team, only three people had seen through this.

“Since you’re both still here, I take it you caught on to what Akechi said?” Morgana asked.

“You mean that thing about pancakes, right?” Kevin asked as he fiddled with his fingers.

“That’s right. Back then, I was the only one who mentioned pancakes. That means Akechi already knew about the metaverse back then.”

“And since he lied about it, he likely has something planned, right?” Kevin looks over at Akira who had been staring at him for a while. “What’s wrong, is there something on my face?”

“No, there’s another important thing we need to talk about” Akira said.

Kevin looks back at him in confusion. “Sure, what is it?”

As Akira opened his mouth to say something, the door to the storage room opened again. “There you two are! Come on, I’m getting tired of waiting. Let’s go watch whatever they’re doing in the gym” Ryuji said.

The trio walked over to the gym and watched the rest of the show they were putting on. The three of them stood against the wall with Kevin in the center.

“So Akira, what did you want to talk about?” Kevin asked.

“It’s about something you said.”

Kevin looks back at Akira confused. “Something I said? Did I say something wrong?”

Before Akira could respond, he gets interrupted by the MC. “And now it’s time for the Student Sharing Special! Are there any volunteers in the audience?” the MC asked.

After hearing this, Ryuji immediately starts shouting loudly, “Oh, oh, right here! This guy has something!”

Kevin turns around and takes a step back from Ryuji. “Huh?!”

“This guy? I don’t see a ‘this guy’. Oh well, why not blondie there!”

Ryuji’s eyes go wide as he realizes the MC volunteered him instead. “What?!”

Kevin lets out a sigh of relief. “That’s karma for you.”

Ryuji reluctantly walks up to the stage, feeling the stage fright settling in. Meanwhile, Kevin and Akira both went ahead and sat down in the audience in order to make sure Ryuji doesn’t slip up.

“So what was it I said that bothered you?” Kevin whispered to Akira.

“We can talk later, there’s too many people around.”

As if on cue, the MC finally asks Ryuji the dreaded question. “So do you think what Akechi said is true? About how the Phantom Thieves are students of Shujin?”

“Huh?!” Ryuji asks, taken aback by the question. Kevin and Akira both look at each other, worried about how Ryuji was going to respond.

“Well?”

While Ryuji was standing there trying to rack his brain for ideas, Akira quickly gets up and yells out, “Blonde hair is dumb!”

“What?! That dick!” Ryuji curses under his breath, offended that Akira would actually call his hair dumb, even if it was for the sake of avoiding the Phantom Thieves question.

“Oho, looks like Sakamoto’s very identity is being questioned! How would you like to come on up instead?”

“Hell yeah, he would!” Ryuji yells out, glad that he was finally allowed to get off stage. He walks over to take Akira’s seat while Akira goes up in Ryuji’s place. “Man, I can’t believe he just called my hair dumb” Ryuji whined.

“Hey, if Akira didn’t do that, who knows what would’ve happened?”

“I know, just didn’t like being called out like that. People already look at me weird for my hair, you know?”

Once Akira was finally on stage, the MC starts asking him, “So then, Kurusu, I’m sure the whole school is dying to know. Is there someone you like?”

Kevin just feels bad for Akira. He tried to save Ryuji and now he gets asked the worst question imaginable. There was no way Akira was going to say that in front of the whole school. Especially with Ryuji in the room.

Akira walks over to the mic. “Yes, there’s someone I like.”

Hearing Akira’s response, Ryuji gets excited. “Oh man, is Akira finally going to tell us who he likes?”

Akira takes a deep breath, bracing himself. He then yells into the mic, “I love Ryuji Sakamoto!”

There is a brief silence in the auditorium before the entire audience lets out a surprised yell. Kevin looks over at Ryuji who slowly opens his mouth when he realizes what Akira just said.

Ryuji quickly gets up from his seat and points at Akira. “Oi, Akira! The hell are you saying?!”

The MC grabs his mic, excited that the crowd finally had a reaction after so many consecutive years where the Student Sharing Special ended up being ranked the worst event. “Oho! Looks like our little delinquent here is in love with the other delinquent! What is your response, Sakamoto? Do you take Kurusu as your boyfriend?”

“Hell no! And you better get off the stage or I’ll stop being your friend as well, Akira!” Ryuji yelled out.

“Aw, looks like Kurusu got rejected. Everyone, send your condolences for our heartbroken delinquent” the MC said as part of the audience let out an “awww” for Akira. It’s faint, but Kevin also notices a hint of sadness in Akira’s eyes as he walks back to sit next to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The hell, Akira, why’d you have to go and say that? Now people are going to make fun of us calling us a couple!” Ryuji yelled at Akira after the three of them went up to the rooftop.

Akira shrugs. “Hey, at least it got people to stop talking about the Phantom Thieves, right?”

Ryuji lets out a sigh. “At this point I think I’d rather people find out a Phantom Thief. Didn’t you see the looks people were giving us on the way here? They rumors are already spreading! How am I supposed to show my face at school anymore?”

“Come on Ryuji, it’s not _that_ bad. It’s not like people kept coming up to me when they found out I was gay, right?” Kevin said, trying to mediate things between the two.

Ryuji lets out a sigh. “I guess you’re right, but I don’t want people to think we’re dating just because Akira tried to deflect the whole Phantom Thieves thing, you know? Now it’s going to make hanging out at school awkward.” Ryuji scratches his head before continuing. “Anyways, it’s getting late, we should get going.”

“You go on first Ryuji, Akira and I have something important to discuss” Kevin said.

“For real? I guess I’ll go home alone then. See you guys.” Ryuji headed for the train station, leaving Akira and Kevin alone on the roof.

“Sorry you had to go through that, Akira. I’m sure Ryuji didn’t mean all that, seems like he just didn’t realize that was a real confession.”

Akira shakes his head. “It’s fine, I didn’t expect much. I’m just glad he treated it as a joke instead, could have been much worse.”

“So what did you want to talk about?”

Akira puts his hands in his pockets and looks Kevin dead in the eyes. “I think it’s about time you stopped hiding so many secrets from us.”

Kevin is taken aback. He didn’t expect Akira to be so direct about that. “What do you mean?”

“Ryuji told me something very interesting earlier. He said you offered to make ketchup art on his food and even cast a magic spell.”

“That? Oh, don’t worry about it, I’m not hitting on Ryuji or anything. I know how much you like him and all, wouldn’t even dream of taking him!” Kevin said as he let out a nervous laugh.

“That’s not the point. Just yesterday when Ann asked you for help, you refused to wear a maid costume. Now suddenly you’re okay with it?”

“O-oh, I just thought about it overnight and wearing a maid costume didn’t seem so bad. Being young is the time for mistakes, so why not make a lot, right?”

Akira doesn’t look convinced. “That’s not the only thing, either. Back when we found Futaba collapsed in front of her house, you didn’t panic at all. You just told us she needed to sleep for a few days.”

“I-I already told you, I know someone who’s the same. She happens to be weak as well and would sleep for days at a time when she’s tired.”

“Oh yeah, what’s her name?”

Kevin hesitates before answering. “Um, her name was, uh L-Laura.”

Akira looks at Kevin suspiciously again. “You said you were from America, right? The way you pronounced that name didn’t sound American at all. You pronounced it just like any other Japanese person would.”

“Ah, well, I was raised in Japan and went to America at a young age. Never quite got rid of my accent.”

“Bullshit! I asked Futaba about your travel history. She said you’ve never left the country until you transferred here.”

“What? You were the one who asked her to do that?” Kevin felt cornered now. He had a feeling Akira would be suspicious, but he didn’t realize how many times he actually slipped up.

“And one other thing. I saw you that time you fought the Reaper.”

“What?!”

“The way you were fighting, that was not the job of an amateur. You don’t normally fight like that when you’re with us. In fact now that I think about it, you always conveniently dodge any strong attacks and sometimes take hits from weaker ones. It’s like you can fight these shadows without getting a scratch on you, but you intentionally get hit to not rouse any suspicions. Who are you, really? A normal high schooler should not be able to fight like that.”

“Um, well…” Kevin averts his eyes, trying to find his way out of this situation.

Suddenly Akira’s schoolbag starts shaking before Morgana pops his head out. “Hey Akira, I think that’s enough. We should leave it at that, I’m sure Kevin will tell us when he’s ready.”

Akira puts his hands back in his pockets and heads for the door. “I want to trust you since because of everything you’ve done for us, but right now I can’t trust you any more than I trust Akechi.”

Once Akira leaves, Kevin lets out a sigh and sits down at the desk. “What do I do now?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually a bit excited that we're getting closer and closer to the big reveal! Who is Kevin and what secrets has he been hiding from the group this entire time? All shall be revealed in the upcoming chapters!


	24. Secrets (2)

The Phantom Thieves plus Akechi have entered Sae’s palace. The group enters Sae’s casino where their outfits finally appear.

Is everyone ready?” Joker asked the group. Everyone nods their heads. “Good, then we’re going. The lineup will be Mage, Queen, and Crow. Is everyone okay with that?” Everyone nods again. 

Skull is disappointed that he got kicked off the main team, but Joker already told them in the secret Phantom Thieves meeting that he wants to observe the way Akechi fights in case they have to cross swords some time down the line. He looks over at Mage who’s clutching his staff in both his hands. “Hey, you alright, buddy? You look a bit nervous there” Skull said as he started patting Mage’s back.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Mage looks over at Joker, but then quickly averts his eyes again when he looks back.

Moving on into the palace, the party starts fighting through groups of shadows, although the entire team takes notice of Mage’s actions.

“Mage, look out!” Oracle yelled out as Mage gets knocked down by a critical hit.

“Mage, what are you doing? We already know that shadow reflects fire!”

“Mage, I said to use electricity!”

When the team finally reached the nearest safe room, Joker held another strategy meeting to change up the party. “Mona, take Queen’s place. She’s been healing too much, she’s probably too tired to keep going.”

“Will do, Joker!” Mona responded.

“Skull, you’re taking Mage’s place.”

Hearing the change got Skull excited. “Alright, finally time for some action!”

“Are there any objections?” Joker asked as he looked over in Mage’s direction.

“N-no, none at all…” Mage weakly responded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a long day in the palace, the team disbanded for the night. A few days later, the team minus Akechi hold a secret meeting to discuss their plans moving forward.

“So Joker, how did it look? Think he’ll be a problem?” Morgana asked.

Akira puts his hand to his chin as he thinks about the way Akechi was fighting in the palace. “It’s hard to say. He didn’t seem like anything special, but I also get the feeling he’s hiding his true power.”

“Hey, we got nothing to worry about, right? After all, we got two guys who can hit his weakness no matter what it is, right?” Ryuji said as he slung his arms around Akira and Kevin’s shoulders and held them both closer.

“Y-yeah…” Kevin weakly responded.

Ryuji looks over at Kevin and notices that he’s been fidgeting his fingers the entire time. “Hey, you alright? You look nervous again. Something bothering you?”

Kevin gets up from his seat. “I-it’s nothing! I just need some fresh air, that’s all. I’ll be right back, you guys just continue without me!” As Kevin said that, he started walking down the stairs and went out the LeBlanc’s door. He walks over to the alleyway behind LeBlanc and sits on the ground, burying his face in his legs. “I can’t do this anymore…” As he sits there moping, he faintly hears the sound of the team talking and walks closer to the source. Were their meetings in the attic always this loud? He tries to warn the team, but then freezes when he hears his name.

“So what was wrong with Kevin? He’s always so cool and collected, but today he was totally lame.” It was Futaba’s voice.

The entire team except for Futaba and Haru look at each other before Makoto speaks up. “Actually, this wasn’t the first time it happened. This also happened in, well, your palace, Futaba.”

Futaba sits up in her seat after hearing that. “Really? What happened then?”

“Well, Kevin blew up on Ryuji on the first day we went in your palace, but after that he seemed completely different. He seemed very jumpy and made all sorts of mistakes he normally never would. That was also the first time Akira had to take him out of the party.”

“All that happened inside my palace? What could be the reason for that?” Futaba asked.

There is a short silence before Akira speaks up. “We don’t know, but there’s also more to it.”

The rest of the team looks confused. “What do you mean more to it?” Haru asked.

“Kevin’s been hiding secrets from us. I don’t know what he’s hiding, but a lot of things just don’t add up.”

“Like what?” Ann asked.

“First off, Kevin seems to know Futaba even before we met her.”

Futaba looks surprised. “What? How? There’s no way that’s possible! I’ve never left Japan and Kevin never left America until March!”

Akira shrugs. “I don’t know either, but he knows too much about you, like that time you wet your be-”

Futaba quickly covers Akira’s mouth with her hands and interrupts him. “Ahhhh! Don’t say that!”

Akira takes her hands off. “Also he seemed irrationally angry that first day inside your palace. It would make sense if he had some sort of connection to you, but then it contradicts the fact that he’s never been to Japan before. The only possibility I can think of would be that the person we know isn’t Kevin Tanaka, but someone else.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that someone has been disguising as a Shujin student this entire time?” Makoto asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s a possibility. As proof, I’ve spoken with Kevin and he pronounces English words like a Japanese person would and not like an American.”

Ann gets surprised by that and speaks up. “Wait, but last time I spoke with Kevin alone, he pronounced English words just fine.”

Now the whole team was confused again. “Are you sure about that, Ann?” Akira asked.

Ann nods. “Yeah, I did live in America after all. We talked at Destinyland and he said the word ‘crepe’ just fine. Definitely didn’t sound Japanese at all. If anything, his Japanese sounded a bit off.”

“So wait, is Kevin American or not? I’m completely lost here” Ryuji asked.

“What if Kevin had a twin brother? One who lived in Japan. Is that a possibility?” Yusuke asked.

Futaba shakes her head. “No, that’s impossible. I’ve looked into Kevin’s family registry and he doesn’t have any siblings. Unless his parents somehow hid the fact they had twins from the world and sent one to Japan there’s no way it’s possible.”

There is another silence as the group tries to come up with more theories. “There’s another thing. Kevin fought a Reaper once.”

“Wait, are you really going to tell them?” Morgana asked.

“A Reaper? Oh, you mean that time we went to Mementos to make back the money I lost!” Ryuji yelled out. Akira and Morgana both put a hand/paw on their faces while half the rest of the team looks in his direction.

“What do you mean by that, Ryuji?” Ann asked.

“Uh, well… Okay, fine! Remember that time Alibaba cancelled the deal? I got mugged on the way home and lost all the money!”

“Wait, then where did all that sushi money come from?” Makoto asked, concerned about the potentially illicit methods used.

“Well, I kinda went to Mementos… with Kevin, Akira, and Morgana…”

“With Kevin? But wasn’t he visiting friends at the time?” Ann asked.

Futaba chimes in. “That’s impossible, Kevin doesn’t have any friends besides us. He just has a guy he hasn’t spoken to in ages and a girl who thinks she’s his girlfriend.”

“That’s… very sad…” said Haru.

“What? He’s that unpopular back in America? But everyone in class seems to like him!” said Ryuji.

“So what happened with Kevin and the Reaper?” Yusuke asked.

“Kevin lost, but he was no amateur at fighting. He didn’t get hit a single time, but he had to escape because he was running low on energy.”

“He didn’t get hit at all? But that’s the exact opposite as him last time! He kept getting hit and made all sorts of mistakes! It made my job as navigator so hard!” Futaba whined.

There is another silence as the entire group is stumped by all the mysteries.

“Has anyone tried talking to Kevin yet?” Haru asked.

Everyone shakes their head.

“Then why don’t we have someone talk to him? Maybe someone he trusts the most. Do you think you can do that, Ryuji?”

Ryuji looks back at Haru surprised. “What? Why me?”

“Out of the entire team, you seem to be the closest to him. I’m sure he trusts you the most.”

Ryuji scratches his head. “I don’t know. What if he just gets mad at me? I say we should just trust him for now. He hasn’t done anything, right?”

“Would you have said the same for Akechi if we didn’t hear about his plans?” Akira asked.

“Huh? Well, uh…”

Akira puts his hands in his pockets. “I know you want to trust him. I’m sure we all do, but there’s too much we don’t know about him. What if he ends up betraying us like Akechi?”

Ryuji sits there in silence, not liking the idea at all.

“Ryuji, I get that you don’t like the idea, but I think it’s for the best as well” said Makoto. “Kevin seemed very different last time. We need to know what’s going on with him. If he makes so many mistakes like the other day, we might even put Akira’s life in danger when we finally set our plan in motion.”

Ryuji lets out a sigh. “Fine, I’ll have a talk with him. I still don’t like the idea, but I get that Akira has a lot at stake here.”

After another moment of silence, the team hears the sound of LeBlanc’s door and immediately stop talking.

“Sorry I took so long!” Kevin said as he walked back to his seat.

“I see that you’re feeling better now, Kevin” said Makoto.

“Yeah, just needed some time to relax. So what’d I miss?”

Everyone flinches trying to come up with an excuse before Akira speaks up. “We were just coming up with ideas for dealing with Akechi when the deadline finally comes.”

“I see. I guess we’ll have to be ready for anything.”

After discussing strategy ideas for the entire day, the team finally disbands, needing more time to come up with a solid plan.

When Kevin and Ryuji finally reach their doors, Ryuji finally speaks up. “H-hey, Kevin.”

Kevin turns around. “What is it?”

Ryuji scratches his head while he tries to come up with what to say. “Well, uh, I was wondering if there was anything you’d like to share?”

“You mean how I’m keeping a lot of secrets, right?”

Ryuji is taken aback. “Y-you heard?”

Kevin walks over the railing and leans against it. “You know, we should probably stop holding meetings in the attic. It’s faint, but loud enough that someone standing right below the window can overhear our conversations.”

“So, uh, do you think you could tell me what you’re hiding?”

Kevin shakes lets out a sigh. “Sorry, but I can’t. Maybe someday I can, but now is not the time.”

“I see… Do you think you can, you know, do a better job in the palace? Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out that way! It’s just… if you’re not feeling well, maybe you should sit out this palace. If we mess up here, then we could be putting Akira’s life in danger, you know?”

Kevin gets up from the railing. “Sorry, I was just feeling a bit off last time. I’ll make sure to do a better job, okay?”

Ryuji lets out a sigh of relief. “Alright, I’m holding you to it, buddy!” he says as the two head back in their apartments.


	25. A Friend In Need

The next day, the Phantom Thieves all head for the courthouse so that Sae can see them and let them into the next floor of the casino. At the courthouse, everyone takes notice of Kevin acting super jumpy again.

“Hey, you alright? I thought you said you were fine yesterday?” Ryuji whispered to Kevin.

“Huh? Uh, yeah, I’m f-fine…” 

“You don’t look alright. Did something happen?”

“Huh? Uh, well…” Before Kevin could respond, the court case starts and everyone is asked to remain silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, is everyone ready?” Akira asked as he held up his phone. Everyone nods in unison before Akira activates the metanav and sends them all into Sae’s palace.

When they enter, Skull suddenly yells out, “Hey Kevin, your costume!” Kevin looks down and sure enough, his costume didn’t appear.

Everyone in the team looks concerned. Queen is the first to speak up. “Are you alright, Kevin? If you’re not feeling well, maybe you should go home.”

Kevin immediately shakes his head. “N-no, I’m fine! Maybe it’s just a delayed reaction. I’ll just stay behind, okay?”

The group looks at each other and hesitates, but ultimately agree.

The group traverses back to the elevator, taking significantly longer than usual since Kevin had to run without the superhuman speed and stamina of a persona user. Upon reaching the third floor, they reach a room where they must play a maze game.

“Kevin, wait for us here while we go through the maze” Joker commanded.

Kevin shakes his head again. “N-no! I promise I won’t hold you guys back!”

Joker lets out a sigh as he lets Kevin join them despite not having his persona manifest itself again.

Once the group enters the maze, they are immediately greeted with total darkness. “Everyone stay close together! I’ll lead the way!” said Joker.

As the team wandered further and further into the maze, it became progressively harder and harder to keep track of where they were when they couldn’t even see where they were going. After wandering around for a while, Kevin bumps into someone. “S-sorry!” When the “person” turns around, Kevin lets out a yell as he realizes he just bumped into a shadow.

The rest of the team quickly rush over and take out the shadow. “Skull, take Kevin back to the entrance. You can find the way, right?”

“Roger that” Skull responded.

“W-wait! I can keep going!” Kevin yelled out.

“That’s an order” Joker commanded.

Before Kevin could say anything else, Skull grabs him by the shoulders and starts walking back towards the entrance. “Let’s go, buddy. It’s not safe for you here.”

When the two of them reach the entrance, they get stopped by the attendant. “Sorry, but if you leave the premise, that’s automatic disqualification for the entire team.”

“What? Fine, then we’ll just wait here until everyone reaches the end” Skull said.

“Sorry, but you cannot win unless the entire group makes it to the end.”

“Are you for real?” Skull said as he scratched his head.

“L-let’s just go back then! We can’t let everyone down!” Kevin stammered.

“No, it’s too dangerous for you. We can just try again” Skull responded. “Hey, we’re quitting. Now let everyone out!”

“Will do” the attendant responded before calling all the Phantom Thieves back to the entrance through an intercom.

When the rest of the team showed up, Kevin immediately froze up. He single-handedly just caused them to lose a huge amount of coins for no reason. “S-sorry, this is my fault. I just got in the way again…”

“Yes, you definitely did” Crow nonchalantly responded.

Everyone else just glares at Crow before looking back at Kevin. “Look, it’s fine. We can just try again. Just, please go home for now. We’ll sort this out some other time” Joker told Kevin. “Skull, can you take him home?”

“You got it, leader” Skull responded before leaving the palace with Kevin and walking home with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The walk home was very awkward for the both of them. Neither of them spoke a word until they reached their apartments.

“Hey Kevin, about what we said yesterday… Maybe you should sit this palace out after all” said Ryuji.

Kevin stops in his tracks, feeling the weight of Ryuji’s words.

“I-it’s not that I don’t trust you or anything! Just, you know, your persona didn’t appear and all, so you can’t really fight or anything. I think it’s better for you to sit this out, then we can figure out what’s wrong with you later, okay?” Ryuji said as he scratched his head, hoping he worded that okay.

Kevin clenches his fists, realizing that he’s been nothing but dead weight for them the entire time. “I get it! I’m just a useless burden to you all! Always have been, always will be!”

“What? No you’re not! You’ve been plenty of help, dude! You’ve just been off a bit lately, that’s all!”

Kevin shakes his head, tears welling in his eyes. “No, my entire life is a lie! My life’s such a joke you could air an entire sitcom about it!” Kevin shouted as he ran inside his apartment and slammed the door.

“Hey wait, Kevin!” Ryuji shouted as he knocked on Kevin’s door. “Dammit…” Ryuji quickly takes out his phone and creates a Phantom Thieves 3 chat that included everyone in the Phantom Thieves except Akechi and Kevin.

**Ryuji:** “Guys, there’s something seriously wrong with Kevin!”

**Futaba:** “Ohhh, first Akechi, and now Kevin. Who will be the next to get booted off? I bet it’s Inari!”

**Makoto:** “Futaba, now is not the time! What happened, Ryuji?”

**Ryuji:** “I don’t know, but I think we need to hold an emergency meeting!”

**Akira:** “Alright, we only just ditched Akechi. We’re on our way right now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at LeBlanc, the Phantom Thieves minus Akechi and Kevin are now holding an emergency meeting.

“Tell us what happened, Ryuji” Akira asked.

“Well, we got back, and Kevin sorta blew up again. He said he’s been nothing but a burden to us all.”

“I know that he’s been off a bit lately, but everyone has their off days. There’s no reason for him to be so hard on himself” said Makoto.

“That’s the problem. He said he’s always been useless to us.”

“What? But Kevin’s done so much for us this entire time! Why would he say that?” Ann asked.

“I don’t know, okay?”

“Hang on, I have an idea” Futaba said as she took out her phone. “Kevin Tanaka” Futaba said into the metanav.

_ Candidate found. _

The entire team looks at Futaba surprised. “What? But persona users can’t have a palace!” Morgana yelled out.

“That’s probably true. When you have a persona, it means your shadow has merged with your body. But right now, it looks like Kevin doesn’t have a persona anymore. Wouldn’t that mean that his shadow left? That means he’s eligible for a palace.”

“I- I see. I never thought about it that way.” Morgana drooped his ears, realizing how little he truly knew about the metaverse.

“So Kevin has a palace. What could his keywords be?” Haru asked.

The team starts bouncing ideas off each other.

“Maybe the location is his home!” Ann shouted out.

_ No match found. _

“What about school?” said Ryuji.

_ No match found. _

“How about Japan?” said Yusuke.

_ No match found. _

The team lets out a sigh in unison, disappointed that they couldn’t find the location.

“How about let’s start with the distortion. Maybe it’s a museum?” said Makoto.

_ No match found. _

“I’m glad we don’t have to go to another museum” Yusuke said, relieved that he won’t have to relive the trauma that was Madarame’s palace.

“This is going nowhere. Ryuji, did Kevin say anything strange that can be used as a hint?” Makoto asked.

Ryuji crosses his arms and scrunches up his face, trying to recall his conversation with Kevin. After a few moments, he suddenly remembers something. “That’s right! He said that you could air an entire sitcom about his life.”

“A sitcom? So maybe it’s a TV studio?” Ann asked.

_ No match found. _

“He said airing a sitcom, so maybe it’s a TV station” Makoto said.

_ Candidate found. _

“A TV station? Man, this is the social studies trip all over again” Ryuji whined as he remembered how boring their trip was.

“So we’ve found the distortion. We need a location now. What about Shibuya?” Akira said.

_ No match found. _

“Are we seriously repeating all the old palaces? We might as well include shack, Sojiro Sakura’s house, and Okumura Foods headquarters” Ryuji said.

_ No match found. No match found. No match found. _

“Come on, Ryuji, take this seriously!” Ann yelled at him.

“I can’t help it, okay? We’ll probably need to name off every freaking place in the world before we get a match!”

_ Candidate found. Beginning navigation. _

“For real?! What was it?”

Futaba looks at her phone. “It was ‘world’. Kevin sees the entire world as a TV station.”

“I see. Since Kevin said his life is a lie, the world would be the simplest location to associate with life” said Makoto.

“Regardless, we have his keywords now. Since the deadline for Niijima is still a ways away, we should try to take on Kevin’s palace. We might finally learn what he’s been hiding from us” Akira said as he put his hands in his pockets.

The Phantom Thieves dispersed for the day, preparing themselves to take on Kevin’s palace the next day.


	26. Revelations

The Phantom Thieves all went inside Ryuji’s apartment after school, preparing to go inside Kevin’s palace.

“Whoaaaaa, it’s a lot cleaner in here than I imagined!” Futaba said as she saw Ryuji’s room.

“Well yeah, Kevin nags me every time to clean my room that I now have to clean it every day just so he doesn’t starve me to death” Ryuji whined. “Why are we even in my place?”

“Since Kevin spends most of his time either here or in his own room, these are probably the best places to start” Akira said as he took out his phone. “Now then, are we all ready?” The group nods before Akira activates the metanav, bringing them all into Kevin’s palace.

When the group arrived in the palace, they were surprised to see that they immediately appeared in their Phantom Thief outfits. “So Kevin already sees us as a threat. Does he really not trust us that much?” Queen asked.

“We’re about to find out” Joker said as he put his hands in his pockets and started walking down the stairs and followed some arrows that pointed towards who-knows-where. 

The buildings in Kevin’s palace all resembled individual TV stations. Each one had a giant antenna as well as TVs plastered on each, showing looping clips of Kevin’s life in first person. There were also a bunch of cognitions, faceless people with huge, creepy smiles on their faces laughing at some of the clips as well. The ones along the way seemed to just show random times of him and Ryuji walking to school. One thing that Joker noticed was that some TVs had a fuzzy blue border, while others had a fuzzy black border. What could the colors mean? When the group reached the end, they ended up at the train station and boarded the train that they all took to go to school. Even inside the train, TVs were plastered everywhere, showing times when Kevin went to school with Ryuji as well as some of the other members of the Phantom Thieves at times.

On the way to school, they noticed a TV with a certain scene that Akira and Ryuji were very much familiar with. It was the day Akira and Ryuji first met! There was a black border, and it showed Kevin walking up the stairs, seeing Akira and Ryuji talking that first day before a hand covered half the screen.

The clip ends, so the group continues on and sees a sign. One pointing into the alleyway saying “Kamoshida’s Palace”, and another pointing towards the main road saying “School”.

“Kamoshida’s Palace?” Skull shuddered at the thought of entering that pervert’s palace again.

The group goes in the alleyway and at the end of it, and sure enough, they appear in Kamoshida’s palace again.

“Man, who’d have thought we’d be coming back to this place again” Panther said, wanting to suppress all the bad memories she had of their time here.

“So this is how Kamoshida viewed the school? I can’t believe I just ignored him for so long” Queen said, still beating herself up for not doing something sooner.

Joker just continues walking around the palace, following the arrows that pointed down into the dungeon where Kamoshida trapped him and Ryuji. Along the way, they see a short clip of the time the trio met Mona, except with a blue border. What was it with the borders? There seemed to be no rhyme nor reason to them.

Once they finally reached the end, they arrived at the jail cell where Akira, Ryuji, and Kevin were all held captive. They went inside and saw a TV inside, showing a black screen.

_ “It seems you have met with a terrible fate, haven’t you? With the way things are going, you may never be able to return home. Is that how you want things to end? Let’s make a deal” a mysterious voice called out. _

_ “A deal? What kind of a deal?” Kevin asked. _

There is some slight distortion that made the next part inaudible. After a while, the dungeon’s ceiling slowly comes into focus, revealing that the TV has a black border. There is some more distortion, with the clip jumping to Kevin and Akira getting pinned to the wall by a shadow, while Ryuji is pinned as well, with a sword pointed at him.

_ “I don’t wanna die…” Ryuji said as he stared death right in the face. _

_ “Please, someone do something!” Kevin thought. _

_ “Quick, make the deal and I can save that boy’s life!” the mysterious voice called out. _

_ “Stop!” Akira yelled out.  _

_ “Okay, we have a deal!” Kevin yelled out in his mind. The border on the TV immediately switches from black to blue. While the guard holding Kevin was distracted, he quickly gets out and rushes over to Ryuji, pushing over the guard and saving his life. The clip ends there. _

“What was that voice? It’s not Hades, is it? I thought Kevin didn’t have his Persona yet” Skull asked, not remembering anything about that voice anywhere.

Joker shrugs. “I don’t know, I’ve never heard that voice before, either. Still, the thing that bothers me the most is why the TV changed color.” Joker looks over at Oracle who’s still staring at the TV screen. “Is there something wrong, Oracle?”

Oracle just continues staring at the screen. “That voice sounds familiar, but I can’t remember where.”

A voice that Oracle recognized? Why did Kevin hear a voice that Oracle would recognize? Now that they’ve watched the contents of the TV, more arrows appeared, pointing them back to where they came from. Once they reached the entrance of Kamoshida’s castle, Joker asked Oracle, “Did you recall where you heard the voice?”

Oracle shakes her head. “No, I’m trying to rack my brain, but nothing’s coming up.”

Suddenly, Queen comes to a realization. “Hey, is it just me, or does it seem strange that we haven’t encountered a single shadow up until now?”

The team gets surprised, nobody even noticing it until now.

“M-maybe Kevin’s palace just happens to be one big safe room!” Skull said, hoping there was nothing wrong.

Joker starts looking around with his Third Eye and notices something strange. “I see signs of fighting. There might be someone else here.”

“What? Could it be Akechi?” Mona asked.

Just as Mona said that, the sound of footsteps could be heard. The group turns their head to see a familiar figure walking towards them. “Mage?!” Skull shouted. “Dude, what are you doing here? I thought you lost your persona!” The figure just continues walking, completely ignoring Skull.

“I’m getting the reading of a shadow. I think that must be Kevin’s shadow.” Oracle shouted. Everyone relaxes after hearing that.

“Kevin’s shadow? Why is he dressed like Mage then? Do persona users have different shadows?” Queen asked as she looked over at Mona.

“Don’t look at me! This has never happened before!”

Wait, guys, don’t let down your guard! I think he’s about to attack!” Oracle shouted again. As she said that, Kevin’s shadow started casting Blazing Hell. Everyone immediately got out of the way. That was, everyone except Panther who just took out her whip and latched onto Mage’s right hand. “Quick, someone get him while I’m holding him!”

As Panther shouted that, Fox summoned his Persona and prepared to shoot a Bufudyne in his direction. Before the spell landed, Mage pulled Panther towards him, causing her to take the hit and get knocked down.

“Sorry, Panther!” Fox shouted at his fallen comrade.

Queen appears from behind Mage and tries to land a punch, but he just steps to one side and grabs her arm, throwing her in Fox’s direction and causing them both to fall.

Noir runs up and tries to hit him with her ax, but Mage just blocks it with his staff and kicks her aside.

Mage turns around and sees Mona preparing to cast Mediarahan on everyone, but quickly shoots a Zio that stuns him before running up and kicking him away.

“Mona!” Skull shouted as he watched another one of his friends get taken down with almost no effort. “Hey Joker, we need to do something! Joker?”

Joker just watches, unable to move. He feels a sense a familiarity while watching Mage fight. He seemed just as nimble as the time he was fighting the Reaper. When Joker finally reacts, he realizes that Mage was standing right in front of him. Joker quickly takes out his gun and tries to shoot him, but no bullets come out. Before he can get out of the way, Mage grabs him by the collar.

“Once you go down, the rest will as well.” The voice sounded familiar. It was the same mysterious voice that they heard in the TV earlier!

“Joker!” Skull shouted as he ran towards Mage, ready to swing his giant spiked bat. Right when Skull is about to make contact, Mage takes off his mask and puts it on Skull’s face to blind him, then kicks his bad leg to knock him down. Skull clutches his leg as he tried to cope with the pain. 

Joker realizes that the person standing before him is not Kevin, but someone else entirely. Who was this mysterious man?

Mage prepares an Atomic Flare, but right before it lands, Oracle puts up a barrier to protect Joker. “Are you alright, Joker?!”

Mage turns around and glares at Oracle who then freezes at the sight of the man’s face. “No way…”

Mage prepares to launch another spell in Oracle’s direction, but before he can, he gets knocked down by Mona’s slingshot. “Joker, are you okay?”

With Mage finally down, everyone quickly gathers around for a hold up. “Tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?” Joker yelled at the man dressed like Mage.

“I have nothing to say to you guys!” the man shouted as he prepared to use Morning Star on the entire team.

“Wait, stop! Uncle Tetsu!” Oracle shouted. 

The man stops casting and looks over in Oracles direction, eyes wide. “Futaba? Is that really you?”

“You know this guy?!” Skull shouted.

Oracle nods and starts walking towards the group. Seeing this, the man immediately picks up his staff and jumps back, pointing it at Oracle. “Stay back!”

“Why, you!” Skull said as he tried to shoot his gun with no luck.

“Guys, stand back. I’ll handle this” Oracle said as she walked closer and closer. “Uncle Tetsu, it’s me, Futaba.”

The man just continues pointing his staff at Oracle. “Lies! If you’re really Futaba, then tell me something about you that Kevin doesn’t know!”

Oracle continues to walk closer and closer. “Back when I was in fifth grade, the four of us went to the beach together. You, me, Sojiro, and mom. I was sitting on the beach alone crying because mom looked so happy with Sojiro. When I told you what was wrong, you said the same thing you did when we went to the beach earlier this year. “I’m sure your mom loves you both.”

Hearing this, the man Tetsu drops his staff and slowly walks towards Oracle and drops to his knees to give her a hug. “Futaba, it really is you… I’m so sorry…”

The rest of the group looks over at the two of them, confused about what’s going on.

“Hey Oracle, mind telling us what’s going on? Who is this guy?” Skull asked.

Oracle turns around. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce Uncle Tetsu!”

Tetsu gets up and takes off his hat then proceeds to bow. “Hello everyone, my name is Uncle Tetsu. Sorry we had to meet under these conditions.”

“Uh, hi! Glad to meet you! Do you, uh, mind telling us why you attacked us?” Panther asked.

“Ha ha, sorry about that, I thought you were the Phantom Cognitions” Tetsu told them.

“Phantom… Cognitions? Lame...” The group said in unison.

“Eh~ I spent so long coming up with that name, too!” Tetsu whined.

“Who is this old man anyways?” Skull asked.

“O-old man? I’ll have you know I’m only 27!”

“Uncle Tetsu is a friend of my mom’s. He was a cognitive pscientist working under her” Oracle responded.

“I see. And why is he here in Kevin’s palace? What is his connection?” Joker asked.

“Oi, oi, since you’re here, you’ve seen the video already, right? I’m sure you of all people have figured it out by now, Joker” Tetsu said as he scratched his head.

The rest of the team looks at Joker, awaiting his answer. “That mysterious voice from the video was you. This is purely a guess, but I think you somehow went into Kevin’s mind, letting you control his body.”

“Bingo! That’s right, for the past few months Kevin and I have been sharing a body. There are certain restrictions, but I’ll still give it to you.”

The entire group except Oracle and Joker are taken aback. “What?! So wait, this entire time we’ve been talking to this old man?” Skull shouted.

“Hey, I already told you I’m not an old man! Call me that again and I won’t cook for you anymore, Ryuji~” Tetsu whined.

“Gah, I hear the resemblance now! He totally talks like Kevin!”

“So wait, does that mean we've never actually spoken to Kevin before?” Panther asked.

“Oh no, you've spoken to him before, but he does have me take over for most social situations. Kevin's the shy and reserved one while I'm the outgoing and animated one. You can also tell by some of the conversations on the TVs. When they have a black border, it means Kevin’s the one in control. The ones with a blue border mean I’m in control.”

“I see, so that’s what those borders mean!” Noir said as she tried to recall the color of the borders from the clips they watched.

“Wait, there’s still one very important question! Oracle, I thought you said that your mom’s friend died via mental shutdown. If so, then why is he here?” Queen asked.

Suddenly, the rest of the group recalls the same thing. “Wait, he can control Kevin’s body and he’s dead. Is he a g-g-g-ghost?!” Skull shouted.

“Maybe I am. If you didn’t clean your room properly while I was gone, I’m going to take over your body next, Skull~” Tetsu said as he laughed at the poor boy.

“Gah! Stay away from me!” Skull shouted as he hid behind Joker.

“I’m curious as well. Where have you been this whole time, Uncle Tetsu? And why do you have the same reading as a shadow?” Oracle asked.

Tetsu scratches his head and lets out a sigh. “I guess it can’t be helped. I’ve already told you this much, I might as well tell you the whole story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The thing I've been planning since Chapter 11!
> 
> Anyone happen to remember how I mentioned a voice in Mage's head back in Futaba's palace? Or how Mage sometimes held his staff in both hands and sometimes in one? Those were some subtle hints I tried to throw in.


End file.
